{
  "abstract": "Background Pregnancy within a year of childbirth has negative impacts on women and their children’s health. We developed a digital health intervention (DHI) to empower women in contraceptive choices postpartum. Our pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to establish the feasibility of a main RCT of the effects of the DHI compared with standard care on long-acting contraception use.Methods Our pilot RCT recruited 52, 20–24 weeks pregnant women in NHS Lothian, UK between October 2022 and April 2023. Participants were randomised 7:3 to receive either the DHI (n=37) in addition to standard care, or standard care alone (n=15). Telephone survey follow-up was at 24 weeks’ gestation and 6 weeks postpartum. Semi-structured qualitative interviews (n=10) were conducted with participants receiving the DHI.Results All eligible women joined the study and completed follow-up. All intervention participants found the animation highly acceptable; one participant requested text message discontinuation. We completed followed up on 37/37 (100%) of participants. DHI participants reported they valued access to credible contraceptive information that supported decision making in a non-pressurised way.Conclusions Our DHI is highly acceptable and a trial is feasible. A larger trial is needed to establish if the DHI increases uptake of long-acting reversible contraception postpartum and reduces unintended pregnancies within 12 months of childbirth.Trial registration number (Trial registration ISRCTN48521918).",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Chalmers Sexual and Reproductive Health Service, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK",
        "Institute for Regneration and Repair, Centre for Reproductive Health, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Michelle Cooper"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dept of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Caroline J Free"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Kevin Ka-Wing Kuan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Regneration and Repair, Centre for Reproductive Health, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Karen McCabe"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Emmanuela Osei-Asemani"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Charles Opondo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Chalmers Sexual and Reproductive Health Service, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK",
        "Institute for Regneration and Repair, Centre for Reproductive Health, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sharon Cameron"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Acceptability of digital health intervention during pregnancy to inform women about postpartum contraception (DIGICAP): a pilot randomised controlled study",
  "uid": "c6756e4b-be9c-59c1-99bf-dc18e2ad3853"
}