Formative research to underpin a text messaging home safety intervention for young mothers

Abstract

Objective: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for infants and young children in the USA, and the children of young mothers are at an even higher risk. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have been successful in promoting behaviour change for many health conditions. This study assessed interest in mSafety, a text and video messaging mHealth intervention targeting injury prevention knowledge, behaviour and self-efficacy in young mothers. Design: Interviews with young mothers were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Setting: Interviews took place at a health clinic for teenage mothers and their children and at a local public charter high school which serves pregnant teenagers and young mothers. Method: A trained research assistant conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 young mothers (ages 15–20). Participants were asked both closed and open-ended questions to elicit opinions about their willingness to utilise mSafety. Results: The results of the interviews were positive. Participants were most interested in learning about the prevention of falls and poisonings, as well as safe sleep. Many emphasised that the language of the messages should be simple and that videos could be included to demonstrate methods of injury prevention. Most interviewees were willing to participate in a ‘virtual home safety visit’ in which participants text home photos to an expert to evaluate home safety practices. Conclusion: The concept of an mHealth intervention that would provide young mothers with the tools to prevent injuries among their children received positive feedback.

Feasibility of text messaging to promote child health in a rural community on an American Indian reservation

“…This finding concurs with a mock texting study conducted by Sharifi and colleagues who found that parents expressed a desire for specific, action-oriented advice, such as tips on healthy meals and local PA opportunities (Sharifi et al, 2013). Studies similar to ours have shown that including email and websites with the text messages enhances interactivity and provides access to more information (Mello et al, 2018; Sharifi et al, 2013), a practice called SMS Plus (Spohr et al, 2015).…”

Analysis of research on interventions for the prevention of safety accidents involving infants: a scoping review

“…There is a reported demand for education related to practical management methods among parents of infants and toddlers to reinforce the safety of their children at home [5]. The results of this study also showed that demonstrations and practice using safety equipment are effective educational strategies [7,29].…”

“…It is a key element in the success of teaching methods and improves learning outcomes [35,36]. According to a study by Mello et al [29] analyzed in this review, the results were positive after feedback was shared by a supervisor during interventions for the prevention of safety accidents aimed at young mothers. Faculty feedback is a teaching method that encourages complete learning, and previous studies have reported high satisfaction among trainees using this method; therefore, these findings support the results of this study [37].…”

“…The contents of interventions must address falls, fires, poisonings, sleep-related incidents, injuries, and drowning so that parents can create a safe home environment for their children [3,4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][24][25][26]. Additionally, parents' awareness of safety accidents involving infants and toddlers that may occur at home must be improved by interventions [3,4,[7][8][9][10][11][12]14,16,18,24,[26][27][28][29]. Finally, interventions should ensure that parents have an accurate knowledge of safety accident prevention for their children…”

“…Preventive precautions Creating a safe home environment [3,4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][24][25][26] Awareness improvement [4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]16,18,24,[26][27][28][29] Building knowledge [3,4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][14][15][16][17][18][24][25][26][27][28][29] Characteristics of children's developmental stages Cognitive development [3,…”