Testing Content Delivery Models for MomConnect

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Immunization Coverage; Breastfeeding; Hematological Diseases

• Registration Number: NCT05505760
• Lead Sponsor: IDinsight

Brief Summary

The case for mobile health (mHealth) has been gaining traction as a source to improve health outcomes of individuals. mHealth refers to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support health care. The ubiquity and penetration of mobile phones presents the opportunity to deliver health care services directly to citizens, with the greatest potential gains in under-resourced health ecosystems. Operating for 8 years and currently supporting 1.28 million mothers through their pregnancies and early childhood care, MomConnect represents one of the largest maternal health messaging platforms in the world. Implemented at the national level, MomConnect has been credited with being the first national-scale mHealth program of its kind and has won numerous international awards. As a WhatsApp-delivered service, MomConnect has been limited by WhatsApp's historical terms of service. In its current form, MomConnect can only start a conversation with mothers once a week by alerting them of their upcoming antenatal care (ANC) appointment. Recent changes to WhatsApp's terms of service have removed the restriction around push messages for certain programs, including MomConnect. Messages have historically been restricted to weekly conversation starters and carry only generic administrative reminder-style information. As a result, it is possible that many mothers are failing to engage with the content as much as they could. If mothers were more engaged, it could greatly increase exposure and knowledge of reducing the total number of mothers exposed to critical maternal and infant health content. With the updated terms of service, there is an opportunity to test different ways of engaging mothers. This study proposes to evaluate, through a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the relative effect of three new behaviorally-informed program models on key knowledge of and adoption of healthy behaviors.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-08-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-08-16
• Study First Posted: 2022-08-18
• Study Start: 2023-05-30
• Status Verified: 2023-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-10-25
• Last Update Posted: 2023-10-27
• Primary Completion: 2024-02-29
• Study Completion: 2024-02-29

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 8867

Inclusion Criteria

• Pregnant women above the age of 18 signing up for MomConnect when being between 16-30 weeks pregnant

Exclusion Criteria

• All others

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
ANC visits	Based on phone survey conducted 7 weeks after expected delivery	Binary indicator measuring whether women attended at least 8 ANC visits during pregnancy as recommended by the WHO
Immunisation coverage	Based on phone survey conducted 7 weeks after expected delivery	Binary indicator measuring whether the newborn child received all 6 vaccinations recommended at birth and 6 weeks after birth

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
User Experience	Backend data is collected throughout users' usage of the platform; survey data based on phone survey conducted 7 weeks after expected delivery	Includes WhatsApp back-end data and survey data on how users interacted with MomConnect platform
Knowledge/Attitude Index	Based on phone survey conducted 7 weeks after expected delivery	Includes knowledge of/attitudes towards diet, breastfeeding, and anemia
Behaviour Index	Based on phone survey conducted 7 weeks after expected delivery	Includes behaviour related to ante-natal care visits, diet, pregnancy preparedness, breastfeeding, anemia, and child vaccinations

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Reach Digital Health (formerly Praekelt.org); 🇿🇦 Cape Town, South Africa