Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers

© 2016 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Objective: The project aimed to test of the quality and acceptability of researcher-developed Short Message Service (SMS) messages designed to support fathers of infants aged 12 months or less. Background: The findings of previous studies sugge...

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Main Authors: Fletcher, R., May, C., Wroe, J., Hall, P., Cooke, Dawson, Rawlinson, C., Redfern, J., Kelly, B.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55549
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author Fletcher, R.
May, C.
Wroe, J.
Hall, P.
Cooke, Dawson
Rawlinson, C.
Redfern, J.
Kelly, B.
author_facet Fletcher, R.
May, C.
Wroe, J.
Hall, P.
Cooke, Dawson
Rawlinson, C.
Redfern, J.
Kelly, B.
author_sort Fletcher, R.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2016 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Objective: The project aimed to test of the quality and acceptability of researcher-developed Short Message Service (SMS) messages designed to support fathers of infants aged 12 months or less. Background: The findings of previous studies suggest antenatal and postnatal depression among fathers’ impacts negatively on the health of family members. Method: Draft messages were first modified based on expert review. In a second phase, parents (mothers n = 56; fathers n = 46; unknown n = 4) were recruited through two early childhood parenting services to rate the clarity, usefulness and relevance of the 70 SMS messages using a paper-based survey. In a third phase, 15 fathers were recruited to receive texts at different times over three weeks. Results: Findings suggest that SMS items were easily understood by the majority of parents, with only 3% of responses indicating an item was ‘not easily understood’. Feedback from parents indicated that negatively rated SMS messages were considered as either poorly phrased, lacking enough information or as not offering sufficient support. The majority (88%) of the SMS items were also rated as ‘useful’ by the parents. Conclusion: Fathers’ responses indicated that receiving the texts at different times was acceptable and that message content was relevant to their fathering. The study has produced a set of brief text messages suitable and acceptable to new fathers and their partners.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-555492017-09-13T16:11:25Z Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers Fletcher, R. May, C. Wroe, J. Hall, P. Cooke, Dawson Rawlinson, C. Redfern, J. Kelly, B. © 2016 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Objective: The project aimed to test of the quality and acceptability of researcher-developed Short Message Service (SMS) messages designed to support fathers of infants aged 12 months or less. Background: The findings of previous studies suggest antenatal and postnatal depression among fathers’ impacts negatively on the health of family members. Method: Draft messages were first modified based on expert review. In a second phase, parents (mothers n = 56; fathers n = 46; unknown n = 4) were recruited through two early childhood parenting services to rate the clarity, usefulness and relevance of the 70 SMS messages using a paper-based survey. In a third phase, 15 fathers were recruited to receive texts at different times over three weeks. Results: Findings suggest that SMS items were easily understood by the majority of parents, with only 3% of responses indicating an item was ‘not easily understood’. Feedback from parents indicated that negatively rated SMS messages were considered as either poorly phrased, lacking enough information or as not offering sufficient support. The majority (88%) of the SMS items were also rated as ‘useful’ by the parents. Conclusion: Fathers’ responses indicated that receiving the texts at different times was acceptable and that message content was relevant to their fathering. The study has produced a set of brief text messages suitable and acceptable to new fathers and their partners. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55549 10.1080/02646838.2016.1214250 restricted
spellingShingle Fletcher, R.
May, C.
Wroe, J.
Hall, P.
Cooke, Dawson
Rawlinson, C.
Redfern, J.
Kelly, B.
Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title_full Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title_fullStr Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title_full_unstemmed Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title_short Development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
title_sort development of a set of mobile phone text messages designed for new fathers
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55549