Continuous support and engagement of women
To provide continuity of care and support between two prenatal visits, participants in the intervention group, could contact the researchers if they had concerns and questions about their pregnancy and birth care. The team of researchers including midwives and obstetricians were available throughout the day (between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.), to provide women with an accessible source of information about their pregnancy and childbirth decisions. However, this feature was not intended to substitute the usual antenatal care, and no medication prescriptions, requesting laboratory tests, or imaging were offered via our mHealth. They could also write about their feelings and experiences publicly in the forum linked to the educational contents, and pregnant women had the opportunity to exchange their feelings with each other under the research team’s supervision. The mHealth application can also help women in expressing their feelings and symptoms due to the anonymity of this method of delivering the intervention [The control group received only routine prenatal care. Currently there are no specific guidelines in Iran, for providing care to pregnant women suffering from FOC. The routine prenatal care in Iran includes up to 8 prenatal visits, which in the study site would be provided to all pregnant individuals by midwives and obstetricians. Routine prenatal care includes regular visits to monitor women and fetal health. To better access women in the control group and limit in-person interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked them not to uninstall the application from their mobile phones until birth and answer questionnaires after eight weeks and after childbirth.