Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Feb 17, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 17, 2022 - Apr 14, 2022
Date Accepted: Aug 23, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Effectiveness of an interactive text messaging and structured psychosocial support groups on developmental milestones of children from adolescent pregnancies in Kenya: a quasi-experimental study
ABSTRACT
Background:
In sub-Saharan Africa, a quarter of all pregnancies occur in adolescents. Children born to adolescent mothers have poorer physical and socio-cognitive development. One reason may be inadequate knowledge on childcare and psychosocial support during pregnancy and postpartum period.
Objective:
We aimed to assess the efficacy of an interactive mobile text-messaging platform and peer groups in improving maternal knowledge and practices as well as infant growth and development.
Methods:
This was a quasi-experimental study, conducted in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The unit of randomization was Sub-county. Two sub-counties were allocated to receive interactive text-messaging only (limited package) while two received a combination of text messaging and support groups (full package); a post-only control group was recruited at endline. Follow-up period was nine months. Key outcomes were maternal knowledge on childcare and infant development milestones assessed using the Developmental Milestones Checklist (DMC III). Knowledge and DMC scores were compared as continuous variables using means and T-tests.
Results:
We analyzed the results of 886 adolescent mother-infant pairs at endline; 666 from the interventions groups and 220 from the control. Compared with control, teenage mothers receiving the full package had a higher knowledge score on infant care and development (9.02 versus 8.01, P-value<0.001) and their infants had higher average scores on the DMC in developmental milestones (53.09 versus 48.59, P-value=0.011). We found a marginal difference in knowledge scores between full and limited package (9.02 vs 8.73, p=0.05) but no difference in DMC scores in the two groups (53.09 vs 58.29, p=0.999).
Conclusions:
An interactive text-messaging platform improved adolescent mothers’ knowledge on nurturing infant care and development of their children. Such platforms offer an avenue of giving reproductive health support to adolescents. Clinical Trial: PACTR201806003369302
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