For New Moms Cellphones Can Be A Lifeline
Great care was taken in the hospital, but once they were discharged new mothers didn’t have continuing support.
After a baby is born, the mother is hurled into a whirlwind of change — recovering from delivery, initiating breastfeeding, handling postpartum depression and accessing contraception. Mothers need support in knowing what is normal and what are serious health problems in their infants. That makes the postpartum period is a key window of opportunity for health education.
This is particularly true in developing countries where 99% of all maternal deaths occur. In 2015, The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that roughly 303,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented.
The question is: What is the easiest most effective way for these moms to access care?
“We knew that mobile technology would be key to help solve these issues,” said Julie Maslowsky assistant professor at UT Austin’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Education (KHE). “More than 90 percent of adults in Ecuador have cellphones.”
Maslowsky and her colleagues developed an intervention designed to support and educate new mothers via mobile phone. They implemented this system in Quito, Ecuador, making it easier for new moms to access care for their newborns and for themselves using text messaging and phone calls.
The cellphone intervention had two parts.
First, each mother received a phone call from a nurse 48 hours after she was discharged from the hospital.The nurse spent approximately 30 minutes talking with the mother and educating her about common postpartum concerns for mothers and their infants.
On the phone they discussed breastfeeding, family planning, safe sleeping, vaccines and fevers, as well as the newborn’s eating, sleeping and bowel habits.
After the brief educational session, the mother was then free to call or text the nurse any time during the next 30 days if she had a question or concern.
In their most recent study, 178 women took part and were randomly assigned to the intervention or the control group.
The intervention produced significant improvements in health for mother and baby, which were measured when the baby was 3 months old.
Compared with the control group, participants in the intervention group experienced positive outcomes:
- Mothers were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their infants.
- Newborns were less likely to have to go to a doctor for acute illnesses.
- Women were more likely to bring newborns to well-baby visits.
- Women used more effective forms of birth control, i.e. a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) method rather than only a condom.
Maslowsky and her colleagues were thrilled with the results. “Our Ecuadorian collaborators are enthusiastic about the potential of this intervention to improve postpartum maternal and infant health,” Maslowsky said.
Maslowsky is planning the next phase of the study: universal implementation of this program for all new mothers in one of southern Quito’s health zones that has a population of more than 400,000.
Maslowsky is one of many faculty members in the College of Education whose research extends beyond the U.S. Read about the international projects changing the world in Mozambique, New Zealand, China and more.
Originally published at txedmag.com on October 9, 2017.
