Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
ISSN: 2155-9600
Mildred A Horodynski, Kami Silk and Mackenzie Robson
Michigan State University, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nutr Food Sci
Tools 4 teen moms (T4TM) is a social-media educational intervention designed to promote healthy infant feeding practices: Infant-centered feeding, maternal responsiveness, and proper introduction of complementary foods. The T4TM intervention consists of 6 weeks of daily challenges appropriate for teen moms. The T4TM challenge-based intervention has been field tested among 51 low-income, first-time adolescent mothers of infants under two months of age, recruited from the maternal infant health programs (MIHP) in five Michigan counties in USA for program efficacy and participant engagement and satisfaction. Participants randomized to the intervention received a text message each day for six weeks that included the day��?s challenge and website URL. Post intervention self-report survey revealed that participants in the intervention were more likely to know that propping the bottle was not a safe feeding practice (p=0.04), and that infants under 6 months of age did not require more than breast milk or formula (p=0.08). When asked the proper time to introduce solid foods, 92% of intervention participants answered correctly compared to 76% of control participants. Participant responses indicated a high level of program satisfaction. Website activity revealed moderate engagement with the program. Average number of challenge completions was 21 out of 42, and the participants visited the website on an average of 22 out of 42 days. Results indicate that a tailored, social media-based educational intervention to be a promising method of message delivery among adolescent mothers.
Email: Millie.Horodynski@ht.msu.edu