Digital Interventions for Emotional Awareness and Regulation During the Transition to Parenthood: A Scoping Review

The transition to parenthood is a critical period characterized by significant psychological and emotional adjustments. While mobile health (mHealth) interventions have rapidly increased in availability, there is limited synthesis of digital tools designed to support emotional awareness and regulation during this transition. Scoping review objectives included: (1) identifying and characterizing existing mHealth interventions targeting emotional awareness and regulation during the transition to parenthood, (2) examining integration of pregnancy-specific contexts and challenges, and (3) synthesizing evidence regarding effectiveness, user engagement, and implementation outcomes. We conducted a comprehensive search (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Google Scholar) to identify peer-reviewed empirical articles focused on preventive mHealth interventions supporting emotional awareness and regulation during the perinatal period. Two independent reviewers screened and extracted data from each article using Covidence. Altogether, 41 manuscripts were included representing 38 unique mHealth interventions. Altogether, findings indicate a major gap in provision of personalized mHealth support for emotional awareness and regulation during the transition to parenthood, with several implications for future intervention development.