CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05590832Updated Nov 7, 2023

The Effect of Smart-Phone Interventional Messages on Gestational Weight Gain

An interventional study of Activity of Whatsapp messages in Gestational Weight Gain, sponsored by T.C. ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ. Completed at 1 site in Turkey. Open to female participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-11-07.

Sponsored by T.C. ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jun 2022, registered Oct 2022).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
96
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 45 Years
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Methods: The study is a randomized controlled experimental study. Groups were determined by stratified randomization according to the BMI of the pregnant women. In the study, individual identification form, Healthy Living Behaviors in Pregnancy Scale (HLBPS), and maternal questionnaire were used. The initiative program was carried out via WhatsApp messages on a smartphone. Messages regarding routine prenatal care were sent to the intervention group three times a week, and to the control group once a month, about appropriate weight gain, nutrition, and physical activity via WhatsApp.

Results: The mean gestational weight gain was 13.1±4.3 in the intervention group and 14.6±4.2 in the control group, and no significant difference was found between the groups. According to the IOM guideline, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of appropriate GWG , while no significant difference was found between excessive GWG.HLBPS scale total score, nutrition and physical activity post-test mean scores increased significantly in the intervention group compared to the control group. In the intervention group, the group/time interaction in the scale total score, nutrition and physical activity scores of the pregnant women who gained appropriate weight according to the IOM guideline was significant, and the intervention was effective.Significant differences were found between the groups in the pretest-posttest score differences in the HLBPS total score, nutrition and physical activity sub-dimensions of the pregnant women.

Conclusion: Healthy nutrition and physical activity short message intervention with a smart phone increased the appropriate gestational weight gain rates of pregnants in the intervention group according to the IOM guideline, and the intervention was effective. However, there was no difference between the groups in terms of excessive gestational weight gain. It is recommended to conduct studies with a high level of evidence, including internet and social media applications, with larger samples.

Read the detailed description

Most of the descriptive characteristics of the intervention and control group pregnant women who participated in the study were homogenously distributed (p>0.05). A significant difference was found only between gestational week and place of residence (p\<0.05).The mean total GWG of all pregnant women participating in the study was 13.9±4.3/kg. The mean difference between the intervention (13.1±4.3/kg) and control group (14.6±4.2/kg) pregnant women was 1.5 kg, but no significant difference was found between the groups (p>0.05). The rate of GWG within the limits of IOM guideline recommendations in the intervention group pregnant women (48.9%) was significantly higher than in the control group (22.2%) (p\<0.05). Excessive GWG was found to be higher in the control group (68.9%) than in the intervention group (48.9%), but no significant difference was found (p>0.05).In the pre-intervention, pre-test data, pregnancy responsibility, nutrition and physical activity and HLBPS total scores were higher in the intervention group than in the control group (p\<0.05). While no significant difference was found between the groups in the post-test scores of the pregnancy responsibility sub-dimension of the intervention/control group pregnant women (p>0.05), a statistically significant difference was found in both intervention (p\<0.001) and control groups (p\<0.001) in the in-group pre-post comparison. While there was a significant increase in the intra-group nutrition, physical activity sub-dimension and HLBPS total score of the intervention group pregnant women (p\<0.001), no significant increase was observed in the control group (p>0.05). In the post-test comparison between groups, nutrition, physical activity sub-dimension score and HLBPS total score increased significantly in the intervention group compared to the control group (p\<0.001). While the nutrition sub-dimension score of the intervention group was effective in appropriate GWG, it was not effective in the control group. Physical activity sub-dimension and HLBPS total score were effective in appropriate GWG in both intervention and control groups.

02

Conditions studied

  • Gestational Weight Gain

Keywords

  • pregnancy
  • gestational weight gain
  • weight gain during pregnancy
  • healthy eating
  • physical exercise
03

In context

Body Weight

1,223 studies on the registry are indexed under Body Weight; 131 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 96 is above the median of 64 across 947 interventional studies indexed under Body Weight.

Browse Body Weight studies →

Lead sponsor

T.C. ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ is the lead sponsor of 87 studies on the registry; 12 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 45 Years
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Between the ages of 18-45,

  • Using Whatsapp,
  • Having a smart phone and using the internet,
  • At least primary school graduate/literate,
  • Does not have any chronic and psychological disorders,
  • Having spontaneous pregnancy,
  • Volunteer to participate in the research,
  • Pregnancy below the 16th week of participation in the study,
  • Not having any physical disability,
  • Pregnant women with low pregnancies with low BMI and not morbidly obese were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Dropping out of research participation and initiative program,

  • Low,
  • Giving birth before 37 weeks,
  • Having multiple pregnancy,
  • Those who did not have a spontaneous pregnancy were not included in the study.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
96 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    İnitiative group

    All pregnant women participating in the study were divided into intervention and control groups by applying randomization. Pre-test data of both groups will be collected before 18th gestational week, and post-test data will be collected after 37th gestational week. Pregnant women assigned to the initiative group were added to a group established via Whatsapp. Information messages will be sent via Whatsapp on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the first 10 weeks / three times a week (up to the 28th week), and reminder messages will be sent once a week on Wednesdays between the 29th-36th weeks. When necessary, individual messages will be sent to the pregnant women and special directions will be given according to their weight gain rates.

    Behavioral: Activity of Whatsapp messages

  • No intervention
    Control group

    In the same way, a Whatsapp group will be set up to the control group and messages will be sent once a month about the subjects included in antenatal care up to 37 weeks. Topics included in routine maintenance will be included.

Interventions

  • BehavioralActivity of Whatsapp messages

    Informative messages will be sent to the initiative group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the first 10 weeks / three times a week (up to the 28th week), and reminder messages will be sent once a week on Wednesdays between the 29th-36th weeks.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Gestational Weight Gain

    Gestational weight gain rate in line with IOM guideline, Thanks to the intervention, it is expected that the average weight gain of the pregnant women in the intervention group will be lower than the control group.

    Time frame: Total amount of weight gained until 37 weeks of pregnancy

  2. Appropriate GWG ratios with IOM guideline

    Compliance with the IOM guideline 2009,Thanks to the intervention, it is expected that the pregnant women in the intervention group will have higher rates of appropriate weight gain according to the 2009 IOM guideline compared to the control group.

    Time frame: Compliance status of the total weight gained until the 37th week of pregnancy according to the IOM guideline

  3. Healthy living behavior scale score

    healthy living behavior scale score in pregnant women

    Time frame: at the end of 37th week of pregnancy

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Ordu University
    Ordu, 52200, Turkey
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 7, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05590832
Lead sponsor
T.C. ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ
Collaborators
Ege University
Responsible party
Gizem Yıldız (Research Assistant Gizem Yıldız (Master Student), T.C. ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 21, 2022
Start date
Jun 15, 2022
Primary completion
Sep 17, 2022
Completion
Dec 30, 2022
Last update
Nov 7, 2023

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion