Recruiting

Health Behaviours

Sponsor:

University of British Columbia

Code:

NCT05793944

Conditions

Pregnancy

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Female

Age: 15+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

SmartMom text messaging

Control text messaging

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of SmartMom, a text messaging-based mobile health program for prenatal education. The main questions are to determine if healthy pregnant people receiving SmartMom messages that promote health behaviours in pregnancy versus messages that don't provoke behaviour change have improvement in:

1. knowledge about healthy pregnancy and birth
2. standardized measures of depression, anxiety, and fear of childbirth
3. adoption of positive health behaviours in pregnancy
4. maternal, fetal, and newborn outcomes

Participants in the intervention group will receive three evidence-based text messages per week, plus optional supplemental messages on topics relevant to them, throughout pregnancy.

The control group will receive general interest messages on pregnancy-related topics that are not promoting behaviour change.

Conditions

Pregnancy

Study ID

NCT05793944

Start date

Nov 10, 2023

Status verified date

Apr, 2026

Completion date

Jun, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Female

Age: 15+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • pregnant person
  • at 15 weeks gestation or earlier
  • singleton pregnancy
  • can read and understand English at grade 8 level and comfortable completing online surveys
  • live in Canada (excluding British Columbia where SmartMom has been piloted)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • health conditions existing prior to pregnancy that require individualized care (e.g. hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes)
  • previously had a baby with the SmartMom program

Study Design

Enrollment

3078 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Health Services Research

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Intervention: SmartMom messaging

Participants receive three text messages per week with evidence-based information to promote healthy behaviours during pregnancy.

placebo comparator: Control messaging

Participants receive one text message per week with general information about pregnancy but not about making healthy choices.

Interventions

SmartMom text messaging

SmartMom is a mobile health program delivered via text messaging that guides participants through each week of pregnancy. Participants receive three messages per week with links to content focused on improving knowledge, providing information about prenatal assessments and screening, and encouraging the adoption of behaviours to support healthy pregnancy and physiologic birth. Messages are consistent with current professional guidelines and peer reviewed prenatal education curricula. SmartMom provides optional supplemental streams for individuals who wish to have additional messages addressing topics such as reducing use of tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs, depression, obesity, and maternal age over 35.

Control text messaging

Control arm participants will receive weekly text messages with accurate, general-interest information about pregnancy and about progress of the trial. Content is not geared to decision-making during pregnancy that may affect health outcomes.

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in weight during pregnancy [ Time Frame: Enrollment, 38 weeks gestation ]
  • Attendance at prenatal care visits through pregnancy [ Time Frame: 38 weeks gestation ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Sara Leckie, MSc

604-875-2345sara.leckie@ubc.ca

Patti Janssen, PhD

604-313-8243patti.janssen@ubc.ca

Locations

BC Children's Hospital Research Institute

Recruiting

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Contacts

Sara Leckie, MSc

604-875-2345sara.leckie@ubc.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Last update posted

May 4, 2026

Last verified

Apr, 2026

Keywords

  • prenatal education
  • perinatal outcomes
  • text messaging
  • mobile health
  • mental health
  • health behaviour

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of British Columbia on 2026-05-04.