ArticleBMC public health2019
The effectiveness of using a WeChat account to improve exclusive breastfeeding in Huzhu County Qinghai Province, China: protocol for a randomized control trial.
Article in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Effectiveness of an online sexual and reproductive health educational program on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours among senior primary school students: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Reproductive health · 2025Trial
- Effects of Interventions for Improving Awareness and Knowledge of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Among Chinese Young Adults for Prevention of Liver Cancer-A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- A qualitative journey mapping study of prenatal care experiences among rural pregnant women in Northeast China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Exploring nurse and patient perspectives on WeChat-based prenatal education in Chinese public hospitals: a qualitative inquiry.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- RecSOI: recommending research directions using statements of ignorance.Journal of biomedical semantics · 2024Article
- A training curriculum for an mHealth supported peer counseling program to promote exclusive breastfeeding in rural India.International breastfeeding journal · 2023Article
- Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding practice among mothers in nine community health centres in Nanning city, China: a cross-sectional study.International breastfeeding journal · 2021Article
- Intervention of WeChat Group Guidance in Rapid Rehabilitation after Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn exclusive breastfeeding rate in the first 6 months of life of at least 50% is one of the six World Health Organization global nutrition targets for 2025. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in China is quite low and decreasing which makes it urgent to explore effective ways to reverse the current downward trend. As mobile technologies have rapidly developed, mobile communication apps such as WeChat (one of the largest social networking platforms in China) are well accepted and have the potential to improve health behaviors in a convenient way. The current paper describes the study protocol of a WeChat intervention that aims to promote breastfeeding in rural areas in China.
methodsThe study is designed as a randomized controlled trial in rural Qinghai Province, China. Women who are 14-36 weeks pregnant will be randomized to routine antenatal and postnatal care, or routine care plus the WeChat breastfeeding education. pregnant women with a severe disease and complications of pregnancy or HIV-1 will be excluded. Breastfeeding knowledge and promotion information will be delivered to the intervention group through a WeChat official account from 3 months pregnancy to 6 months postpartum. The outcome assessments are conducted at baseline through face-to-face interviews, and at one week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months postpartum by telephone interviews. The primary outcome is difference in the exclusive breastfeeding rate at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum between the intervention group and the control group. Secondary outcomes include the overall duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding across the first 6 months postpartum; mothers' knowledge of breastfeeding; the proportion of early initiation of breastfeeding; and the timing of the introduction of solid food to infants. Intention-to-treat-analysis will be used. Survival analysis will be used to compare the overall duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding between groups. DISCUSSION: This study is the first effort to promote exclusive breastfeeding through WeChat in China. Our results will provide scientific evidence for the effect of health education through WeChat on breastfeeding. Thereby this may offer a comprehensive intervention to promote exclusive breastfeeding in China and other settings.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry -ChiCTR1800017364. Registered 26 July 2018. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=29325.
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