Question 1

Why an App?

Accepted Answer

Apps can alleviate some of the barriers to pregnancy care by being engaging, personalized, and accessible. For more about this, see our page About the MI MOM App.

Question 2

Why does the MI MOM App focus on pregnancy?

Accepted Answer

The US is experiencing a maternal health crisis, where rates of pregnancy complications and deaths are higher than other similar countries. For more on this, see our About the MI MOM App page.

Question 3

How do you know the MI MOM App works?

Accepted Answer

Apps have been proven to help people have better health in many areas, including improving mental health and reducing substance use. The MI MOM App, specifically, will be evaluated using a pilot study after development is finished. The study will be based out of 10 Michigan healthcare clinics and will test whether the app was able to reduce complications and deaths in pregnancy and postpartum.

Question 4

Why have you designed the MI MOM App this way?

Accepted Answer

Current research and plenty of lived experience suggests that we must improve people's entire lives in order to improve their health. We are designing the app to alleviate upstream barriers to health and healthcare, accordingly.

An example: We know that going to prenatal care visits results in healthier moms and babies.  It's not just about telling moms to get to the appointments- things like having transportation, paid time off, childcare, and an available doctor that you trust are all required. We hope that we can help moms make it to the prenatal care appointments by emphasizing their importance, facilitating telehealth appointments, and linking them to services that help with transportation, income, and childcare.

For more about what we hope to offer, see our About the MI MOM App page.

Question 5

Who is designing the MI MOM App?

Accepted Answer

This project is a partnership between researchers at Michigan State University and Flint Innovative Solutions. A Community Advisory Board (CAB) oversees and weighs in on the development of all the app content. For more about the researchers and CAB, see the Our Team page.

We also have engaged with members of the Flint metro area and rural communities to directly build and test app content.

Question 6

How can I get the MI MOM App?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, the app is currently under development and not accessible to the public. After the MI MOM app is finished, we will pilot it at clinics across Michigan to see how we can improve it and how well it works. You may see it at your clinic if they are a test site. A public release may be scheduled after the pilot, but no concrete plans have been made yet.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Michigan Healthy Mom (MI MOM) App