Preliminary impact of an mHealth education and social support intervention on maternal health knowledge and outcomes among postpartum mothers in Punjab, India.

BACKGROUND

Significant disruptions in the perinatal continuum of care occur postpartum in India, despite it being a critical time to optimize maternal health and wellbeing. Group-oriented mHealth approaches may help mitigate the impact of limited access to care and the lack of social support that characterize this period. Our team developed and pilot tested a provider-moderated group intervention to increase education, communication with providers, to refer participants to in-person care, and to connect them with a virtual social support group of other mothers with similarly aged infants through weekly calls and text chat.

METHODS

We analyzed the preliminary effectiveness of the pilot intervention on maternal health knowledge through 6 months postpartum among 135 participants in Punjab, India who responded to baseline and endline surveys. We described change in knowledge of maternal danger signs, birth preparedness, postpartum care use, postpartum physical and mental health, and family planning use over time between individuals in group call (synchronous), other intervention (asynchronous), and control groups.

RESULTS

Participant knowledge regarding danger signs was low overall regarding pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period (mean range of 1.13 to 2.05 at baseline and 0.79 to 2.10 at endline). Synchronous participants had a significantly higher increase over time in knowledge of danger signs than asynchronous and control group participants. Birth preparedness knowledge ranged from mean 0.89-1.20 at baseline to 1.31-2.07 at follow-up, with synchronous participants having significantly greater increases in comparison to the control group. Synchronous participants had nearly three-fold increased odds of postpartum health check with a clinical provider than asynchronous participants (OR 2.88, 95% CI 1.07-7.74). No differences were noted in postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Preliminary effectiveness results are promising, yet further robust testing of the MeSSSSage intervention effectiveness is needed. Further development of strategies to support health knowledge and behaviors and overcoming barriers to postpartum care access can improve maternal health among this population.