WeChat-Based Nursing Interventions in Women's Mobile Health: Systematic Review

Clinical Snapshot

Key Findings

• P Value: Not reported at review level

• Effect Size: Not reported — no meta-analysis or pooled effect size calculated

• Primary Outcome: Narrative synthesis only — no primary outcome was formally pre-specified. Reported improvements across domains of personalized health information access, self-management ability, treatment compliance, and real-time doctor-patient communication in women receiving WeChat-based nursing interventions

• Nnt Or Sensitivity: Not calculable — no quantitative synthesis performed. Interreviewer agreement: Cohen's κ = 0.71 (substantial agreement). 27 of 31 included studies were RCTs. Most studies assessed as high risk of bias due to non-blinding design.

• Confidence Interval: Not reported

Clinical Application

WeChat-based interventions are feasible within the Chinese healthcare context given WeChat's near-universal adoption (over 1.3 billion monthly active users in China). Implementation involves WeChat groups, official accounts, mini-programs (applets), and private messaging — all low-cost modalities. However, feasibility outside China is limited by WeChat's restricted market penetration in Western countries, data sovereignty concerns, and the absence of integration with non-Chinese electronic health record systems. WeChat-based nursing interventions as described in this review have minimal direct applicability to mainstream Australian clinical practice. WeChat is not a TGA-regulated medical device, and its use as a clinical communication platform raises significant privacy concerns under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the My Health Records Act 2012. The RACGP does not endorse WeChat as a telehealth or patient communication platform. However, the findings may have indirect relevance for Australian clinicians working with Chinese-Australian communities, where WeChat is widely used for health information sharing. For the broader Australian mHealth context, analogous platforms (MyGov-linked health apps, HealthDirect, PBS-integrated digital tools) represent more appropriate comparators. The TGA's regulatory framework for Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) would apply to any WeChat-based health application seeking formal clinical deployment in Australia. RACGP guidelines on digital health communication emphasise patient consent, data security, and clinical governance — standards not addressed in this review's included studies. Women in China receiving nursing care across conditions including prenatal care, breast cancer, gynecological cancer, and gestational diabetes mellitus, where WeChat is the dominant social messaging platform. Application to other populations requires significant caution.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) technology offers new approaches to improve women's health by providing personalized monitoring and real-time guidance. As one of the most widely used social media platforms in China, WeChat has shown great potential in mHealth practice, yet systematic evidence on its application in women's health care remains insufficient. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to systematically review WeChat-based nursing interventions in women's mHealth in order to clarify the application status, intervention modalities, target populations, and effectiveness outcomes. METHODS: Searches were conducted in IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ACM Digital Library, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials between January 2011 and December 2024. Two independent reviewers screened studies; extracted data on study design, intervention forms, target diseases, and outcome indicators; and assessed methodological quality. The Cohen κ coefficient was used to evaluate interreviewer agreement. Publication trends, institutional collaborations, author contributions, and research hotspots were analyzed using VOSviewer (Leiden University) and InCites (Clarivate) for bibliometric analysis. RESULTS: A total of 31 eligible studies published from 2014 to 2024 were included. Most studies were randomized controlled trials (n=27). Intervention modalities mainly included WeChat groups (n=22), official accounts (n=18), applets (n=4), and private chats (n=9), mostly used in combination. The top focused health issues were prenatal care (n=5), breast cancer (n=5), gynecological cancer (n=5), and gestational diabetes mellitus (n=4). Six studies adopted multidisciplinary teams. Cohen κ was 0.71, indicating substantial agreement. Publications grew rapidly after 2018, peaking in 2021 and 2024. A total of 40 institutions participated, with Xi'an Jiaotong University having the highest citation impact. Most studies were at high risk of bias due to a nonblinding design. CONCLUSIONS: WeChat-based nursing interventions improve personalized health information access, self-management ability, treatment compliance, and real-time doctor-patient communication for women. This is the first systematic review to evaluate WeChat mHealth interventions in women's health, filling the research gap. Future research should focus on improving methodological quality, exploring cross-cultural adaptability, conducting long-term follow-up, and integrating wearable devices and electronic health records to further optimize WeChat-based women's health services.

References

1. 1.Xiao, J., Li, R., Wu, Y., & Wu, T. (2026). WeChat-based nursing interventions in women's mobile health: Systematic review. JMIR Nursing. https://doi.org/10.2196/82679