mHealth Intervention to Reduce Maternal Postnatal Depression and Promote Family Health

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Postnatal Depression; Quality of Life; Family Relations
• Interventions: Behavioral: family-based mHealth Intervention; Other: Health education; Behavioral: mother-only mHealth Intervention

• Registration Number: NCT05275413
• Lead Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Brief Summary

The proposed study is to test the effectiveness of a culturally-attuned, family-based mobile health (mHealth) intervention in reducing symptoms of postnatal depression and promoting health among expectant mothers in Hong Kong. Using a family perspective, the proposed mHealth intervention will engage family members, including expectant fathers and grandparents, in providing support to expectant mothers. Expectant mothers and their family members will be recruited at antenatal clinics at two public hospitals in Hong Kong and randomized to receive the family-based mHealth intervention (experimental), the mother-only mHealth intervention (experimental), or the health education (control). Maternal depression, anxiety and stress, perceived social support, health-related quality of life, and perceived family cohesion will be assessed at recruitment and four weeks after childbirth. For family members, symptoms of anxiety and stress, health-related quality of life, and perceived family cohesion will be measured.

Detailed Description

Postnatal depression is a prevalent health issue affecting women. Although empirical evidence has proven the effectiveness of face-to-face antenatal classes in reducing perinatal distress, the availability of such support is often limited and is insufficient to benefit all parents who need it. Another challenge in pregnancy support is the difficulty to engage family members in providing support to expectant mothers. To address these limitations, the proposed project aims to develop and test the effectiveness of a family-based mobile health (mHealth) intervention, which will engage family members, including expectant fathers and grandparents to provide support to expectant mothers.

Specifically, the family-based mHealth intervention consists of a smartphone app with different versions designed for expectant mothers, fathers, and grandparents. The smartphone app will provide a user-friendly platform for users to receive psychoeducation materials related to pregnancy (e.g. antenatal care, postnatal care, and infant care) and an interactive forum for all users to ask questions related to pregnancy and family communication, which will be answered by health and social care professionals. To enhance family's engagement, we will also include other functions in the app to encourage communications among family members and enhance family cohesion. These functions include a platform for family members to send texts and share photos, and a shared schedule with alerts for dates related to pregnancy (e.g. appointments for antenatal check-ups and expected delivery date).

Using a randomized controlled design, the proposed study will evaluate the effectiveness of the family-based mHealth intervention in reducing maternal postnatal depression and promoting health in expectant mothers and their family members (expectant fathers and grandparents). The study will recruit 1,578 expectant mothers and their family members at the antenatal clinics at two selected public hospitals in Hong Kong. The participants will be randomized into three groups (i) family-based mHealth intervention; (ii) mother-only mHealth intervention; and (iii) health information control. Participants will be asked to complete a survey with question items related to their physical and mental health, perceived social support and family cohesion, at recruitment and four weeks after childbirth.

It is hypothesized that the family-based mHealth intervention is more effective in reducing symptoms of postnatal depression, promoting health of expectant mothers and their family members, and promoting family cohesion than the mother-only mHealth intervention and the control.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-03-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-03-02
• Study First Posted: 2022-03-11
• Study Start: 2022-06-16
• Status Verified: 2022-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-08-18
• Last Update Posted: 2022-08-22
• Primary Completion: 2023-06-30
• Study Completion: 2023-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1578

Inclusion Criteria

1. Expectant mothers (18 years old or above) attending the antenatal clinics at two public hospitals, Kwong Wah Hospital and Tsan Yuk Hospital in Hong Kong and their family members.
2. Possession of a smartphone and a personal email address for receiving and sending information relevant to the study.
3. Willing to accept the study arrangements.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Not able to understand written or spoken Chinese.
2. Expectant mothers whose EPDS score is equal to or high than the cut-off score of 10.
3. Not willing or not able to provide informed consent.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
family-based mHealth intervention	family-based mHealth Intervention	The expectant mothers and their family members (fathers and grandparents) in this group will receive health education and support and family support via a smartphone app.
Health education	Health education	The expectant mothers in the control group will receive health education via a smartphone app.
mother-only mHealth intervention	mother-only mHealth Intervention	The expectant mothers in this group will receive health education and support via a smartphone app.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Postnatal depression symptoms	24 weeks after start of intervention	Symptoms of maternal depression at four weeks postpartum will be assessed with the validated Chinese version of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Perceived social support levels of expectant mothers	24 weeks after start of intervention	Perceived social support levels of expectant mothers will be assessed with the Chinese version of the 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).
Anxiety and stress levels of all participants	24 weeks after start of intervention	Anxiety and stress levels of all participants (including the expectant mothers, fathers, and grandparents) will be assessed with the Anxiety and Stress subscales of the Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21).
Health-related quality of life (QoL) of all participants	24 weeks after start of intervention	Health-related quality of life (QoL) of all participants will be measured with the validated Chinese version of the Short-form-12 Health survey (SF-12 v2), which consists of 12 items to be computed as two composite scores: physical component score and mental component score.
Perceived family cohesion levels of all participants	24 weeks after start of intervention	Perceived family cohesion levels of all participants will be assessed using the nine-item Family Cohesion subscale of the Chinese version of the Family Environment Scale.

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Kwong Wah Hospital; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Tsan Yuk Hospital; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong