# Effectiveness of the Essential Coaching Postpartum Digital Health Solution on Parenting Self-Efficacy, Mental Health, Well-Being, and Parenting Outcomes: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

## TL;DR

This study tests a digital health program using text messages to support new parents' mental health and parenting skills.

## Contribution

The study introduces a digital health solution with SMS coaching tailored for both birthing and nonbirthing parents postpartum.

## Key findings

- The program provides evidence-based daily SMS messages on infant care and parental mental health.
- It aims to improve parenting self-efficacy, mental health, and relationship satisfaction in new parents.
- Recruitment is ongoing with initial results expected after the 6-week intervention period.

## Abstract

The transition to parenthood requires adjustments to new norms and expectations. While there is significant focus on the parenting transition for birthing parents (persons with a uterus), nonbirthing parents (parents who do not give birth, including fathers, gender-diverse parents, adoptive parents, or nongestational coparents) are less supported. Preventive education via SMS text messaging can fill a health service gap and provide timely, standardized, evidence-based information. The Essential Coaching Postpartum program includes 6 weeks of evidence-based daily SMS text messages on topics such as infant care, normal development, parental mental health, and self-care, with streams designed for birthing parents (Essential Coaching for Every Mother) and nonbirthing parents (Essential Coaching for Every Partner).

The primary objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of Essential Coaching Postpartum to standard care on parenting self-efficacy, mental health (ie, depression, anxiety, and stress), well-being (ie, general distress and sleep), and parenting outcomes (ie, relationship satisfaction and coparenting) among first-time nonbirthing parents in Nova Scotia, Canada. The secondary objective is to compare the effectiveness of Essential Coaching Postpartum to standard care among first-time birthing parents in Nova Scotia. The exploratory objective is to compare the effectiveness of Essential Coaching Postpartum to standard care among first-time parent dyads (ie, both birthing parent and nonbirthing parent) in Nova Scotia.

This will be a randomized controlled trial. A total of 166 first-time birthing parents and 166 first-time nonbirthing parents from Nova Scotia will be recruited and randomly assigned to the intervention or control arm. The intervention arm will receive standard care plus the Essential Coaching Postpartum digital health solution, which consists of twice-daily SMS text messages in the first 3 weeks and daily messages in the next 3 weeks. The control group will receive standard care. Messages are personalized based on the infant’s age and the parent’s self-selected feeding preference (ie, breast or chest feeding, formula feeding, or combination feeding). The first message is sent on the second evening after birth, with parents being eligible to enroll up to 7 days post partum. Participants will complete questionnaires assessing parenting self-efficacy, mental health, well-being, and parenting outcomes at baseline (enrollment after birth), 6 weeks post partum (after the intervention), and 6 months post partum (follow-up).

Recruitment for this study started in June 2025 and is currently ongoing. As of September 15, 2025, 11 birthing and 5 nonbirthing parents have been recruited.

We anticipate that providing parents with SMS text messages (ie, Essential Coaching Postpartum) during the 6-week postpartum period to complement standard care will improve parenting self-efficacy, mental health, well-being, and parenting outcomes.

ClincalTrials.gov NCT06996067; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06996067

PRR1-10.2196/78209