Grant: Project Grant - PA: Healthy pregnancy/early child dev. in Indigenous contexts

In Canada, less than one third of women attend prenatal classes and in rural areas, attendance is less than 20 percent. We have developed a cell phone text messaging program (SmartMom) to deliver prenatal education and have implemented this program in BC. We believe that SmartMom enhances access to evidence-informed information through delivery of text messages that are aimed at promoting healthy behaviour, accessing appropriate care, and using locally available resources. Women receive three SMS text messages each week aimed at promoting behaviours to support healthy pregnancy and physiologic birth. Through embedded links, these messages direct women to further information and online resources. Our goal is to evaluate this program by randomly assigning Canadian women outside of BC to receive SmartMom or not. We will measure the effects of SmartMom messages on women's prenatal health behaviour, knowledge, and attitudes, using surveys and focus groups. We will also determine whether SmartMom increases access to local resources and improves pregnancy outcomes.