Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41043139›Full record

Trial reportJMIR mHealth and uHealth2025

A Tailored mHealth Intervention for Improving Antenatal Care Seeking and Its Determinants Among Pregnant Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Ronel Sewpaul, Ken Resnicow, Rik Crutzen, Natisha Dukhi, Priscilla Reddy

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ronel SewpaulDepartment of Health Promotion, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-2523-1222
Ken ResnicowSchool of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-1416-9627
Rik CrutzenDepartment of Health Promotion, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-3731-6610
Natisha DukhiPublic Health, Societies and Belonging, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-9557-7424
Priscilla ReddyBusiness School, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-0432-9060

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/N021355/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAdolescent pregnancy is of public health concern due to high rates of pregnancy-related complications and lower antenatal attendance among adolescent girls and young women. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have the potential to improve pregnancy health behaviors and thereby birth outcomes.

objectiveThis pilot randomized controlled trial with pre-post design evaluated user acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an mHealth intervention to improve antenatal appointment attendance and its determinants among pregnant adolescent girls and young women in South Africa.

methodsThe "Teen MomConnect" intervention entailed both fixed and 2-way tailored SMS text messages about antenatal appointment keeping and pregnancy health behaviors. The intervention content and functionality were adapted from MomConnect, a national mHealth program that sends fixed SMS text messages to pregnant women in South Africa. Pregnant adolescent girls and young women aged 13-20 years were recruited from health facilities and community networks in Cape Town during May-December 2018. Simple 1:1 randomization was used to allocate participants into the control group that received the standard MomConnect maternal health messages or the experimental group that received the Teen MomConnect intervention. A subset of experimental group participants received an in-person motivational interviewing session. Questionnaires were administered at baseline and after the end of the participants' pregnancies. Appointment attendance data were obtained from clinic records. ANOVA, ANCOVA, and logistic regression models assessed the differences in appointments attended, awareness of HIV status, and the psychosocial determinants of antenatal attendance between the control and experimental groups.

resultsOverall, 412 adolescent girls and young women were enrolled, of which 254 (62%) completed the posttest survey (64% control, 59% intervention). Patient record data were obtained for 222 of the 412 (54%; in both control and intervention) participants. A total of 84% (63/75) and 72% (54/75) rated the intervention messages highly regarding their content value and their motivational nature for behavior change, respectively. Participants responded to an average of 20% of the 2-way messages they received. Mean appointment attendance did not differ significantly between the experimental (4.86, SD 1.76) and control (4.79, SD 1.74; P=.79) groups. Appointment attendance was higher among intervention participants who responded to ≥50% of messages ("high-responders"; 5.08, SD 1.66) than intervention participants who responded to fewer messages (4.82, SD 1.79) and control participants (4.79, SD 1.74; P=.86). The mean increase in knowledge scores was significantly higher among experimental group high-responders (2.1, SD 3.17) than the control group (0.7, SD 2.73; β=1.50; P=.045).

conclusionsEngagement with the intervention's 2-way messaging was low, which could have impacted the outcomes. However, the intervention content was deemed acceptable. Appointment attendance did not vary significantly between the intervention and control groups. More intensive intervention may be needed to impact appointment adherence.

trial registrationPan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR) PACTR201912734889796; https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=9565. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/43654.

Indexed as

Patient Acceptance of Health CarePregnant PeoplePrenatal CareAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansPilot ProjectsPregnancyPregnancy in AdolescenceSouth AfricaSurveys and QuestionnairesTelemedicineText MessagingYoung Adultadolescentadolescent girls and young womenadolescent pregnancyantenatalantenatal caredesignlow income countrymHealthmiddle income countrymobile healthmobile phonemotivational interviewingpilot randomized controlled trialpregnancypregnant adolescentpsychosocialSouth Africatailoringteensuser acceptabilityyoung womenyouth

Identifiers

PMID41043139
PMCPMC12534758

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.