Mater Mothers implementation of txt4two

Project type/s Cohort study
Project status Currently underway

txt4two: helping you to eat well and be active to benefit you and your baby’s health

The benefits of eating well, being active and gaining a healthy weight in pregnancy are well known. However, it can be still hard to find the right information for you, and remain empowered to make these changes. The txt4two program provides a holistic approach to healthy eating, exercise and weight information in pregnancy. Mater Mothers’ Dietitians, in collaboration with Mater Mothers’ Physios and other clinicians will guide you through the program during your pregnancy.

• An initial 30 minute goal planning appointment with a specialist maternity dietitian.
• Receiving a series of supportive and informative text messages sent to you throughout your pregnancy. These will encourage you and check in on your progress towards your goals, and connect you with relevant Mater Mothers resources, recipes and videos.
• Complete two 10-15 minute surveys; one around 10-18 weeks of pregnancy and another at around 36 weeks. In these surveys you will answer questions about what you eat, what exercise you are doing, your weight gain, and how this changes over your pregnancy. Participation in this survey is voluntary.

About the program
The txt4two program was developed by Dr Jane Willcox and colleagues at La Trobe and Deakin Universities. Mater Mothers’ have also been involved in the development of the program and will facilitate this research in South East Queensland. Dr Willcox seeks to help women eat well, be active and gain healthy amounts of weight in pregnancy. 96% of women rate the program highly for pregnancy food and physical activity support.

Unhealthy pregnancy lifestyle behaviours and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) are associated with negative pregnancy-related and long-term health outcomes for both mother and infant, including increased risk of caesarean sections, pre-term birth, and infant’s risk of chronic disease in adult life.

Since the opening of the new Mater Mothers’ Hospital (MMH) in 2008 a number of dietetics-led service delivery initiatives have been developed, implemented, and evaluated to meet the identified nutrition needs of women attending the service. Following improvements through numerous Knowledge to Action cycles, the progressively evolving MMH nutrition and dietetic service, has included service mapping and targeted service improvements based on identified evidence-practice gaps, including booklets, videos, workshops, staff training, and clinic resources like scales in every room.

Our next priority area for service redesign is to develop personally-tailored strategies to support women to improve diet quality and decrease excessive GWG. Particularly, we will explore the potential of broad reach/low intensity methods of delivery such as mHealth (mobile Health) approaches. The program we will be adopting and adapting is the effective txt4two program.