Development of a Maternal, Newborn and Child mHealth Intervention in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam: Protocol for the mMom Project

BACKGROUND Ethnic minority women (EMW) living in mountainous areas of northern Vietnam have disproportionately high infant and maternal mortality rates as a result of low maternal health knowledge, poverty, and remoteness from low-capacity health centers. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to describe the protocol for the development and evaluation of the mMom intervention, which is an integrated mobile health (mHealth) system designed to improve maternal and infant health knowledge, and behavior among women in remote areas of Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. METHODS This project featured the following four phases: (1) development of an mHealth platform integrated into the existing health management information system in partnership with the provincial health department; (2) ethnographic fieldwork and intervention content development; (3) intervention piloting and implementation; and (4) evaluation of the intervention's impact on participants' maternal health knowledge, behavior, and interactions with the health system. RESULTS The mMom project development process resulted in the following: (1) the successful development of the mMom system, including the mHealth platform hardware and integration, the intervention plan and content, and the monitoring and evaluation framework; (2) the piloting and implementation of the intervention as planned; and (3) the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework components. CONCLUSIONS This protocol outlines the development of the mMom intervention and describes critical next steps in understanding the impact of the intervention on participants and the wider health system in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam.