The Momba Mobile Application-based Community (MOMBA)

The investigators' mobile application-based community, termed Momba, will provide a bi-directional flow of information on maternal and infant mental health to traditionally underrepresented groups of mothers and their infants. The overall goal of this mobile application-based community of low-income postpartum women and infants is to increase the social support, social networks, and social capital of low-income mothers; thereby, leading to a positive change in the health behaviors, utilization of health services, and mental health status of both mothers and their infants.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health Wellness 1
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: MOMBA web-based application

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 47
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06510
      • Yale School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women will be recruited in their third trimester of pregnancy from Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) and followed for 8 months postpartum.
• Women are eligible if they are over the age of 18, in their third trimester of pregnancy, will deliver a baby at YNHH and receive prenatal care at the Women's Center.
• Meet criteria for minor or major depressive disorder.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mothers are not eligible to participate if they have previously given birth
• Are placing the baby for adoption
• Are planning to move in the next 18 months
• Are actively suicidal, psychotic or unable to provide informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Access to MOMBA web-based application; Study will provide the subject with a smartphone, pay the data plan, and facilitate access to the web-based application for purposes of researching the acceptability of the application, the operating and functioning of it, and its impact on maternal mental health.	Behavioral: MOMBA web-based application; Web-based, interactive, social network application.
No Intervention: Smartphone only; Study will provide the subject with a smartphone and pay the data plan. Weekly assessments are completed through internet survey links sent via text message.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Phone Retention	To determine the potential feasibility of providing smartphones to participants and delivering and intervention through the smartphone, phone retention was measured. Phone retention was defined as the ability of participants to retain the phone over the study period. Outcome measure used was how many participants did not need a replacement phone during the study period.	15 months
Test the Proper Operating and Functioning of the MOMBA Application	To Test the proper operating and functioning of the MOMBA application, the number of participants that received training was assessed. Intervention subjects were trained (together) on the operating and functions (including how to use the privacy settings) of the Momba application and the phone. The control subjects were trained (together) on how to complete the control questionnaires and how to use the phone.	Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability and Performance of Structured Questionnaires	To determine the acceptability and performance of structured questionnaires, the measurement is categorized into whether participants did or did not complete the 12 month follow-up interview.	12 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient Health	Improve maternal emotional health, was measured by the PHQ-9. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a 9 item questionnaire that is used to assess depression severity. The scores range from 0-27. A score of 10 or higher can be indicative of a moderate - severe level of depression severity.	12 months
Confident Network Score	To assess the improvement maternal emotional health, the Kendler Social Support Interview was used. The Kendler Social Support Interview has scores that range from 0-5, with 5 indicating a larger social network or confidant network size. Presented below are the confident network score at 12 month follow-up.	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Megan V Smith, DrPH, Yale School of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 26, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): March 22, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 18, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 26, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Depression; Stress; Maternal; Social support; Social capital
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1207010574