Text4Father Pilot Feasibility, Acceptability Study

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: This study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of Text4Father among first-time lower income fathers. Half of the participants will receive Text4Father - a text messaging educational program - from mid-pregnancy through 2 months of postnatal age, while the other half will receive usual care.

Detailed Description: Text4Father, a multi-modal text messaging program, is designed to increase first-time lower income fathers' knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavioral engagement on infant care and parenting. Text4Father consists of 48-weeks of twice weekly texts written at a 5th grade reading level. Texts include resource links and instructions to support behavior change (e.g., videos, infographics), starting mid-pregnancy and continuing through 2 months of postnatal age. Text content was developed using formative research and feedback from the target population, consensus building with experts, and an evidence-based review.

Usual maternity care does not involve expectant fathers in education. Further, while father engagement is widely advocated, few public health and clinical approaches aim to engage expectant fathers during the prenatal period and first months after birth - a critical window of opportunity that has been insufficiently leveraged to promote father engagement when fathers describe being unsure of father role.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
Self-reported expectant father and pregnant partner (expectant mother)
Aged ≥18 years
In a romantic relationship and expect to continue to be in this relationship during the study period
Able to speak English
Lower socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., high school/general education or vocational/trade school or less; or qualify for Medicaid/public insurance, WIC, SNAP, food stamps)
Access to necessary resources for participating in a technology-based intervention (i.e., cell phone) and willing/able to receive/send texts

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Text4Father	Text4Father	Receipt of twice-weekly texts that include resource links and instructions to support behavior change (e.g., videos, infographics) and start mid-pregnancy and continuing through 2 months of baby's age.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Feasibility of Overall Recruitment	At Baseline	Feasibility of recruitment will be measured as the number of fathers who were randomized and completed baseline procedures.
Feasibility of Overall Retention	Follow-up (7 months)	Feasibility of retention will be assessed as the number of enrolled participants who complete 7-month follow-up survey (2-months of postnatal age).
Intervention Usability as Assessed by the Usability Score	Follow-up (7 months)	11 item self-report measure among participating intervention fathers with higher score indicating greater perceived usability of technology (text messaging program). This measure is scaled with range from 1 (low) to 4 (high). Mean of participant scale choice (1-4) is reported.
Intervention Acceptability as Assessed by the Acceptability Score	Follow-up (7 months)	An 9 item self-report measure among participating intervention fathers with higher score indicating greater perceived acceptability of technology (text messaging program). This measure is scaled with range from 1 (low) to 4 (high). Mean of participant scale choice (1-4) is reported.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Self-efficacy as Assessed by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC)	7 months (2 months post-birth)	17 item self-report measure with higher score indicating greater confidence in overall parenting skills to assess Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) at follow-up 7 months later (2 months post-birth). This measure is scaled with range from 1 (low) to 6 (high). Mean of participant scale choice (1-6) is reported.