Pregnant women and mobile apps: Unraveling pregnant women's adoption of mobile pregnancy education apps

Introduction Pregnancy is a vital period during which maternal conditions and physiological processes may significantly influence the long-term health outcomes of the child. Therefore, optimal health education is necessary to enhance knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors during pregnancy. Objective This study aims to develop a model of various factors—such as facilitating condition, social influence, trust in the app, e-health literacy, innovative personality, perceived system quality, and perceived information quality—that affect both the intention to use and the actual usage of mobile apps for pregnancy education among pregnant women in Indonesia. Methods The research employed a survey using an online questionnaire, involving 206 pregnant women who were users of a mobile-based pregnancy education application, recruited from three community health centers in South Tangerang, Indonesia, between January and April 2024. Of the total participants, 130 pregnant women met the inclusion criteria. Data analysis was conducted in three stages: respondent profile analysis, measurement model analysis, and structural model analysis. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling was utilized to test the proposed model. Results The findings indicate that the model is a good fit, valid, and reliable. The data supported eight hypotheses proposed in this study, and two were rejected. Facilitating conditions were found to have a direct positive impact on actual use rather than the intention to use a mobile-based pregnancy education application. Trust in the app mediates the positive effect of social influence, perceived system quality, and perceived information quality on the intention to use the app. Additionally, innovative personality and e-health literacy both have a positive influence on usage intention. The coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) values show that intention to use and facilitating conditions explain 61% of the variance in usage behavior, while facilitating conditions, innovative personality, trust in the app, e-health literacy, and social influence collectively explain 63% of the variance in intention to use. Moreover, social influence, perceived system quality, and perceived information quality together account for 64% of the variance in trust in the app. Despite the possibility of other unmeasured factors influencing these constructs, the findings suggest that the proposed model offers a reasonable and robust explanation of user behavior in the context of mobile-based pregnancy education applications. Conclusion This study offers valuable insights for the development of future applications and addresses a significant gap in the literature regarding the usage behavior of mobile-based pregnancy education applications.