A mixed-methods evaluation of a culturally tailored maternal and child mHealth programme: txtpēpi

Pregnancy and the postnatal period are opportune times to support parental health and encourage future child health and wellbeing. txtpēpi is an individually tailored text message programme for parents and families providing information and support during pregnancy and the postnatal period. txtpēpi was developed for a region of Aotearoa New Zealand, with a high proportion of Māori (the Indigenous population) and people living rurally or in areas of high deprivation. The paper presents a mixed-methods evaluation of txtpēpi using the RE-AIM Framework, involving interviews with 40 end-users and nine stakeholders, and analysis of system-recorded end-user data. The results suggest that txtpēpi achieved a high degree of reach, impact, implementation and adoption. Ongoing maintenance of txtpēpi was endorsed with suggested areas of improvement. Programme uptake and engagement from Māori suggest that this type of intervention provides a promising and acceptable tool to support improvement in equity of child health outcomes.