TREC MAMA celebrated its first anniversary: a year of support and innovation for expectant mothers

In just twelve months, TreC Mamma has transformed the maternity experience for over 2,800 women, offering a comprehensive and personalized support during the nine months of gestation.

The data on daily access calculated on average testify to the appreciation of users: every day, more than 500 women consult the application to look up scheduled appointments and information on the baby’s growth and changes affecting its development.

Here are some usage data in detail:

• To date, 2,820 women from Trentino have downloaded the App and almost 13% are women with foreign citizenship, with an average age of 32 years.
• 56% of women are on their first pregnancy, 32% are on their second pregnancy, and the remainder are on their third or further pregnancy.
• The average gestational age at which women download the app is 14 weeks.
• The in-app information content has been viewed more than 1,200 times and among the most viewed in-depth contents are those related to pregnancy’s most common symptoms and symptoms that require urgent care, as well as pregnancy check-ups and the rights to maternity and paternity leaves.

Available from August 8, 2023, TreC Mamma stands out for its ability to respond to the needs of pregnant women with a multidisciplinary approach. The App provides a wide range of services and features, including:

• Viewing CUP appointments: the personal information of women, entered at the time of authentication, is connected to the APSS information system and allows users to view all Healthcare System’s CUP (Appointment Center) scheduled follow-up appointments.
• Pregnancy monitoring: a calendar that follows the development of the baby and the changes that occur in the mother week by week, providing specific advice for each stage.
• Certified content: access to information approved by the experts of the Trento Province Healthcare System (APSS), ranging from physical to mental health, which  answers the questions that every woman asks herself during this special period of her life and offers practical suggestions.
• A pregnancy diary: through which the expectant mother can enter herself information, documents and pictures that she finds useful to memorize
• Educational resources delivered through virtual assistant (GEA chatbot): articles, videos and factsheets on crucial topics such as health during pregnancy, mental well-being and preparation for childbirth.
• Link to the Support Community: a virtual space where pregnant women can find useful websites to share experiences and find mutual support.

On the occasion of its first birthday, TreC Mamma will be shortly providing a series of new features to make the App even more useful and interactive. These include a program of guided prenatal exercises and a course dedicated to healthy nutrition during pregnancy, which helps expecting women manage well-being during this unique period of their lives. As for the health of the child, information on the development and growth of the child up to the third year of life will soon be integrated, developed thanks to pediatricians and professionals from the Inter-hospital Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department and the Prevention Department.

“The Autonomous Province of Trento has long been committed to the development of a Health Service that is close to citizens and their needs, able to effectively respond to the health needs of the population by ensuring equity of access to services and care which is, together with the centrality of the citizen, among the inspiring principles of the Provincial Health System. This application is a concrete example of this because it is the result of a great deal of concerted work between professionals in health care, research and planning, and it allows us to add further quality to the service we offer to all expectant mothers,”were the words of provincial councillor for health and social policies Mario Tonina.

“The province is always oriented toward promoting technological innovation and research, and it also does so in the field of health care. The Province’s commitment on these fronts has led to the definition of the ‘Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence’ project, which this project is part of, precisely with the aim of testing new organizational models in health care based on the use of technology and artificial intelligence for the development of innovative services that will benefit both health care workers and citizens/patients,”these are the thoughts of provincial research councillor Achille Spinelli.

“The mission of TreC Mamma is to be a trusted partner for all pregnant women, offering accurate information and emotional support,” said Fabrizio Taddei, Director of the Apss’s Inter-hospital OB/GYN Department, who participated, together with a multidisciplinary team, in the development of TreC Mamma. “We are proud of our achievements in this first year and are excited to continue innovating to further improve our users’ experience.”

“The App represents an opportunity not only for women, who have greater confidence and understanding of the wealth of information provided to them, but also for midwives, who can count on an educational support tool during and after OB visits and contribute to the implementation of innovative projects,”  Claudia Paoli, midwives Chief with the Inter-hospital OB/GYN Department pointed out.

“The App makes it possible to propose women to participate in studies/research carried out by health professionals and researchers, within the TrentinoSalute4.0 Competence Center, providing them with the necessary information and obtaining consent to enrollment. This will allow the testing of innovative solutions based on artificial intelligence techniques. A series of pilot clinical studies on the validation of chatbot-mediated digital interventions in the area of prevention and promotion of mental well-being and healthy lifestyles both during pregnancy and in the first two years of life will start in the coming months.  In addition, the app will provide data and information on the health status of the local population, which will be useful for activating specific interventions to improve the quality of care and assistance,” Stefano Forti, director of FBK’s Digital Health and Wellbeing Center, explained.

“It is essential that pregnant women also feel well emotionally. For the Psychology Operating Unit, it was an important opportunity to be able to contribute to TreC Mamma with the creation of information content on what can happen to women’s emotions during pregnancy and until after delivery.” – added Debora Marroni, psychologist, manager with the Psychology Operating Unit at APSS.

“A working group, consisting of hospital pediatricians, pediatricians, midwives and gynecologists, has very enthusiastically joined the TreC Mamma app project, which will soon make information and advice available to families regarding nutrition in the first and second years of life.  Content will also be provided on other topics, aimed at managing the most frequent problems affecting children in the first two years of life, including suggestions for adopting healthy lifestyles” – stressed APSS Inter-hospital Pediatrics Department Director Massimo Soffiati.

The response from users has been positive. Sabrina, a young mom from Pergine Valsugana, told us, “TreC Mamma has been a great resource during my second pregnancy for both me and my partner.  I encourage all moms to download the App and use it because I found valuable support and information that helped me live these nine months with ease and well-informed.”  “I greatly appreciated the fact that I could conveniently see all my appointments for visits and checkups on the App”- said another mom. (follow this link to the video with the testimony of 3 moms)

The App is promoted by midwives at the time of first visits: “We midwives are the first professionals that the mother comes into contact with as soon as she finds out she is pregnant. We present the App to them when they first come to the clinic or at birth support meetings, so that mothers who are not followed at the clinic will learn about it as well.”  “TreC Mamma,” the midwives told us, “has been very well received because it is an institutional alternative to those found in App stores. Moms know they can trust the content because it is certified and validated by professionals from the local healtchcare system.” (follow the link to the video with testimony of 3 APSS midwives)

Special attention has been paid to inclusivity: the TreC Mamma App is available in three languages (Italian, English and French), in order to ensure accessibility also to foreign mothers enrolled in the provincial health service, and will continue to grow and develop new solutions to support women and families on the wonderful journey of motherhood and parenting, with the aim of offering comprehensive and personalized care.

The development of the TreC Mamma App is part of the project entitled “Digital Health Care and Artificial Intelligence – Tools for bringing Healthcare Services closer to citizens and for the development of the provincial system,” approved by resolution of the Provincial Council on December 22, 2022, within which a module on Prevention dedicated to the “First Thousand Days of Life” is planned. The goal is to implement and validate an ecosystem of digital health actions that will provide support to the woman, child and family with adopting family-friendly behaviors in the area of healthy lifestyles and mantal well-being.