NCT05275413

mHealth Intervention to Reduce Maternal Postnatal Depression and Promote Family Health

Engaging the Whole Family to Support Expectant Mothers: A Family-based mHealth Intervention to Reduce Maternal Postnatal Depression and Promote Family Health

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,578 (estimated)
• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

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.

Conditions

• Postnatal Depression
• Quality of Life
• Family Relations

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	family-based mHealth Intervention	The intervention consists of three versions: mother, father, and grandparent. The app consists of health information about pregnancy, postnatal care, and infant care in the form of brief texts and short videos. Each versions have their unique features, such as a platform to ask questions in mother version, a quiz game to promote fathers' knowledge related to father's involvement, educational materials tailored for grandparents. An obstetrician and a social worker will respond to the questions. Details please refer to the proposal.
BEHAVIORAL	mother-only mHealth Intervention	The expectant mothers in this group will receive information about pregnancy, postnatal care, and infant care in the form of brief texts and short videos via a smartphone app. The expectant mothers will also have access to a platform in the smartphone app to ask questions about their pregnancy. An obstetrician will respond to the questions.
OTHER	Health education	The expectant mothers in the control group will receive information about pregnancy, postnatal care, and infant care in the form of brief texts and short videos via a smartphone app.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-06-16
• Primary completion: 2023-06-30
• Completion: 2023-12-31
• First posted: 2022-03-11
• Last updated: 2022-08-22

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Hong Kong