Participants’ Perceptions of Essential Coaching for Every Mother—a Canadian Text Message–Based Postpartum Program: Process Evaluation of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: Essential Coaching for Every Mother is a Canadian text message program that sends daily messages to mothers for six-weeks after they give birth. There is a need to explore the program’s effectiveness in terms of the participant’s experience to guide refinement and modification. Objective: To describe the process evaluation of the Essential Coaching for Every Mother randomized controlled trial through an evaluation of the research implementation extent and quality. Methods: Participants were recruited from Nova Scotia, Canada between January 5, 2021 and August 1, 2021. Enrolled participants were randomized into the Essential Coaching for Every Mother group or the control group. Data were collected from the text message program used as well as participant-completed online questionnaires at six-weeks postpartum. Quantitative data and qualitative responses to open-ended questions were used to triangulate findings. Results: Of the 295 unique initial contacts, 150 mothers were eligible and completed the baseline survey to be enrolled in the study. Of those, 78 were randomized into the intervention group, of which 75 completed the six-week follow-up survey to provide feedback on the program. Forty-eight (61.5%) received full messages, with participants who enrolled after the second day missing on average 4.7 messages (range: 1-12). Participants reported an 89.2% satisfaction rate with the program and 100% of participants would recommend the program to other new mothers. Participants liked how the program made them feel, the format, appropriate timing of messages, and content while disliking the frequency of messages and gaps in content. Participants also provided suggestions for future improvement. Conclusions: Our process evaluation has provided a comprehensive understanding of interest in the program as well as preference for program components. The findings of this study will be used to update future iterations of the Essential Coaching for Every Mother program. Clinical Trial: ClincalTrials.gov NCT04730570