Development and testing of a text messaging educational intervention for pregnant adolescents

This study developed a literature based educational text messaging intervention, utilizing professional and adolescent subject matter experts (SMEs) to assess the content validity of the intervention, and pilot test the intervention for effect on pregnant adolescents’ knowledge of nutrition and physical activity. Pregnant adolescents tend to utilize prenatal care inconsistently and have problems with weight gain during pregnancy. Questions have arisen regarding whether pregnant women are receiving education needed to eat healthy and be active during pregnancy. Several studies identified that women know to eat healthy and exercise but not specifically what to eat, what kind of activity to perform, or where to get the information. It is unclear if adolescents have knowledge about nutrition and physical activity to keep gestational weight gain within recommended guidelines. An educational text message intervention was developed by the investigator, based on professional experience, recommendations and guidelines of professional organizations, and support in the literature. Professional subject matter experts (SME’s) evaluated the text message intervention for relevancy, sufficiency, and clarity. A consensus was reached by the SME’s through the evaluation and rating of the intervention. The intervention was then evaluated for relevancy and clarity by pregnant adolescents SME’s, in focus group settings. Focus group comments were analyzed using constant comparative method. After final review and approval by the professional SME’s, a small pilot study was conducted. Pretest-posttest data was obtained from the pilot study and interpreted utilizing the ANOVA and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. In conclusion, the professional and adolescent focus group SMEs indicated the text message tool had content validity through their rankings and agreement. The pilot study was small and finished without a definite conclusion, encouraging further study opportunities. An educational text message intervention is ready to be tested in a larger sample of pregnant adolescents.