Edinburgh Napier University

  We have developed an intervention that aims to help pregnant women to stop smoking by sending text messages with embedded behaviour change techniques (BCTs), as part of an engaging story with pictures, from early in their pregnancy until after they give birth. We need to do a large scale trial to find out if the intervention works in helping them to quit, but a feasibility/pilot study is required first to test out the trial methods. We plan a study in two phases. In Phase 1 we will: 1) refine and finalise the intervention including extending it to 6 weeks post-birth to help prevent relapse, and 2) work with smoking cessation services, midwives, mothers and local communities to determine the best methods for recruiting pregnant smokers to the study. Phase 2 will involve 70 pregnant women who smoke, half will get standard NHS smoking cessation help and half will also get the new intervention. We will assess the acceptability and likely impact of the intervention and the feasibility of conducting a future large scale trial.
This project is in collaboration with University of Stirling and 5 other institutions and is funded by the Chief Scientist's Office, total project value is £348,248