Integrating Text Messages Into the Mothers and Babies Course

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Perinatal Depression, Postpartum Depression

In brief

This project is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and scalability of the Mothers and Babies 1-on-1 Course (MB) among home visiting programs. MB is a manualized 12-session postpartum depression prevention intervention guided by cognitive-behavioral therapy and attachment theory. Each session lasts 15-20 minutes and is delivered as part of a regularly scheduled home visit. Previous MB trials suggest that the intervention is less successful for women who exhibit smaller changes in hypothesized intervention mechanisms and less fully engaged in completion of personal projects. This study will determine the feasibility and acceptability of conducting MB-TXT, in which home visiting clients receive MB supplemented by a series of weekly text messages focused on skill reinforcement, personal project reminders, and self-monitoring of depressive symptoms. The investigators will also calculate a preliminary effect size that could be used to calculate sample size necessary for a future fully powered randomized controlled trial that examines MB-TXT efficacy. The investigators will use a stepped wedge design-a form of randomized controlled trial that involves sequential, but random, roll-out of the intervention over multiple time periods. The investigators have created two HV program clusters. Both clusters will initially implement MB 1-on-1 and will recruit MB participants for one quarter (i.e., three months) before crossing over to recruit MB-TXT participants for one quarter. MB-TXT's core curriculum is identical to MB 1-on-1 and adds a series of text messages throughout the curriculum. Feasibility and acceptability data will be collected from clients and home visitors to assess percentages of received text messages, home visitor adherence to sending texts at specified intervals, and clients' perceptions of text message utility and clarity. If the investigators are able to integrate MB-TXT and home visiting programs and generate improved mental health outcomes for clients, the investigators will be prepared to replicate this intervention across home visiting programs nationally at a time when home visiting as a service delivery model is rapidly proliferating via federal Maternal Infant and and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program funding.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT03420755
Run by
Northwestern University
People needed
63
Starts
2017-06-07
Expected to finish
2019-03-31
Last updated by the study team
2019-11-15

Who can join

Age: 16 and older. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.