160 Int. J. Electronic Healthcare, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2018
Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Analysis and development of mobile perinatal mental
health system
Mohammad I. Merhi*, Naima Islam
and Greg Hintz
Department of Decision Sciences,
Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics,
Indiana University South Bend,
1700 Mishawaka Avenue,
South Bend, IN 46634, USA
Email: mmerhi@iu.edu
Email: islamn@umail.iu.edu
Email: gbrehmer@iusb.edu
*Corresponding author
Abstract: Perinatal depression includes major and minor depressive episodes
during pregnancy or in the first 12 months after birth. The American College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that clinicians screen patients
at least once during pregnancy for depression and anxiety symptoms using a
standardised tool. This paper attempts to consolidate current depression
screening tools into an electronic application that can be accessed from a
computer, tablet or cell phone and can be sent directly to the primary care
physician’s office for review. The object-oriented approach was used to
analysis and design the system. The systems requirements are first gathered
using questionnaire and interviews with practitioners; then, analysed based on
unified modelling language techniques such as use case, class, and sequence
diagrams. This system will aid healthcare providers in identifying patients who
are at risk of perinatal depression.
Keywords: mental health system; perinatal mental health; depression system;
health systems; perinatal system.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Merhi, M.I., Islam, N. and
Hintz, G. (2018) ‘Analysis and development of mobile perinatal mental health
system’, Int. J. Electronic Healthcare, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.160–175.
Biographical notes: Mohammad I. Merhi is an Assistant Professor at the Judd
Leighton School of Business and Economics at Indiana University South Bend.
His research interests include behavioural aspects of information security
and privacy. He is also interested in researching issues related to the design,
adoption and implementation of information systems in organisations
especially in the health and the government sectors. He has published his
research in several leading journals. He has also presented his research at
leading international and national conference meetings and workshops.
He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Behavioural
and Healthcare Research and a reviewer for several other journals.
Naima Islam earned her Master’s degree in Management Information
Technology from Indiana University South Bend, Indiana in 2016.
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from