A Study of Women's Perceptions and Opinions of a Persuasive Breastfeeding mHealth App

Women's perceptions of persuasive design principles implemented in a mHealth app to support breastfeeding have not been previously explored. This study aims to explore the persuasive features of a persuasive mHealth app (the MilkyWay app) from the perspective of breastfeedingwomen to recognize design, functionality, and usability issues. The study used an online survey to gather women's perceptions of the persuasive design principles assimilated in the Milky Way mHealth app and explore their overall experience with the app. Quantitative responses were analyzed with descriptive analysis to explore women's perceptions of the implemented PSD features. A qualitative thematic analysis method was used to analyze participants' responses input to the online survey. A total of 168 women participated in the study survey. The results of the One-Sample T-Test showed that the perception scores of the various PSD features are statistically significant and higher than the neutral rating of 3 (p <.001). This indicates that participants perceived the features implementations as persuasive. A total of 96 women provided qualitative inputs, with an overall of 288 text inputs. Three themes emerged: Overall user experience, Opportunities for app improvements, and Technical aspects. The Milky Way app was perceived as an informative and credible app that is feasible for breastfeeding promotion and support. The results from this study strongly supported the use of the Milky way app for promoting breastfeeding, with particularly positive feedback received from breastfeeding mothers. Practical design recommendations for improving the app based on the findings are offered.