Text4baby Shows Promising Results for Moms

Text4baby, a free health education text messaging service for pregnant women and new moms, is reaching its primary target audience of medically underserved women and achieving a number of its health education goals, according to a preliminary assessment presented at the American Public Health Association annual meeting this week.

The program, made possible through a broad, public-private partnership, is the first free mobile health information service in the United States and is an important example of leveraging widely used technology—in this case, cell phones -- in new ways to improve the lives of Americans. Pregnant and new moms who sign up for text4baby (by texting BABY or BEBE to 511411) receive three text messages per week containing health tips and resources.

The study by the National Latino Research Center at California State University and the University of California, San Diego, showed “very high satisfaction with the service, increase in users’ health knowledge, improved interaction with healthcare providers, improved adherence to appointments and immunizations, and increased access to health resources.” The study consisted of interviews with 38 text4baby users and a survey of 122 text4baby users, all in San Diego County.

Participants rated text4baby as an 8.5 out of 10 overall, and indicated that:

• 81% have an annual household income under $40,000
• 65% are either uninsured or enrolled in California’s Medicaid program
• 63% said the service helped them remember an appointment or immunization that they or their child needed
• 75% said they learned a medical warning sign they didn’t know previously
• 71% talked to their doctor about a topic they read on a text4baby message
• 39% called a service or phone number they received from a text4baby message (this rose to 53% among individuals without health insurance)