Home Blood Pressure Monitoring in Pregnancy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring women's experiences of using an innovative smart phone app to monitor for signs of worsening blood pressure and pre-eclampsia during pregnancy
IRAS ID
222277
Contact name
Lesley Kay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St. George's University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
A new care pathway at St George’s University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust was recently trialled for pregnant women who had a history or new diagnosis of hypertension in pregnancy. Women were invited to monitor their blood pressure and symptoms of pre-eclampsia (PE) at home and record their results on a downloadable app on their smart phone. This new pathway enabled women’s hospital appointments to be reduced overall, yet identified those that needed a prompt medical review in between routine hospital appointments. The app triggered an alert when a woman entered a result that was out of range requiring a medical review. The researcher is concerned that there is an assumption that women will prefer and accept a reduced hospital appointment service. It is well established that service users should be involved in decision making when implementing a new service (Faulkner, 2010).
The researcher proposes to invite women who have completed this new care pathway to share their experience and views on home blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy. This research will allow women to have their voices heard about what it is women really want, think and feel about the management of hypertension in pregnancy at home via an innovative smart phone app.
This will be a qualitative study using Glaser and Strauss (1967) classic grounded theory approach. Data will be gathered from participants via interviews. There is no direct benefit to participants in this study, but the research may enhance or bring about positive change in the future management of hypertension in pregnancy.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
17/ES/0023
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion