Feasibility of an SMS service to support wellbeing and attachment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the feasibility of a Short Message Service (SMS) based intervention to promote emotional wellbeing and mother-infant attachment in mothers with infants less than one year old: A single blind feasibility randomised controlled trial
IRAS ID
198045
Contact name
Shihning Chou
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 2 days
Research summary
Research indicates that around 1 in 5 women develop anxiety or depression during pregnancy and within a year of giving birth. In a recent Nottinghamshire Children and Families Partnership (NCFP) Sure Start service improvement questionnaire, mothers who previously experienced low to moderate perinatal mental illness felt that receiving wellbeing messages during this period would have been helpful, and around 90% said that they would maybe or definitely have been interested in receiving messages about bonding with their baby.
We would like to see if sending text messages through NCFP Sure Start’s Footsteps service could help mothers who are experiencing low to moderate depression and/or anxiety. We are interested in seeing if the messages help participants to manage their mental health and develop a positive attachment with their baby. Within this study, we are exploring if it is possible to compare the outcomes for mothers who did and didn’t receive text messages. The findings of this research will help us to decide if it is possible to carry out a larger scale study that could provide evidence of the efficacy of the messages.
Mothers aged 20 or above who have been referred to Footsteps and have an infant below 4 months old at the start of the intervention will be eligible to take part. The study aims to recruit 24 participants. Half will receive 4 text messages per week for 10 weeks plus usual care, while half will receive usual care alone. Participants will complete outcome assessments at the start of the study, and 3 and 6 months afterwards. Semi-structured interviews and evaluation questionnaires will also be conducted after the 3 month outcome assessments have been collected, in order to explore participant’s views about the acceptability of the intervention and study procedures. The study is expected to last until May 2017.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0255
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion