Text4baby: Development and Implementation of a National Text Messaging Health Information Service
Open accessAbstract
Text4baby is the first free national health text messaging service in the United States that aims to provide timely information to pregnant women and new mothers to help them improve their health and the health of their babies. Here we describe the development of the text messages and the large public–private partnership that led to the national launch of the service in 2010. Promotion at the local, state, and national levels produced rapid uptake across the United States. More than 320 000 people enrolled with text4baby between February 2010 and March 2012. Further evaluations of the effectiveness of the service are ongoing; however, important lessons can be learned from its development and uptake.
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The cultural adaptation of SMS text message interventions has generally included language translation, so that health messages reflect health beliefs, norms, and social practices.
“The cultural adaptation of SMS text message interventions has generally included language translation, so that health messages reflect health beliefs, norms, and social practices [62].”
From British South Asian Patients’ Perspectives on the Relevance and Acceptability of Mobile Health Text Messaging to Support Medication Adherence for Type 2 Diabetes: Qualitative Study (2020) · cites this paper as [62]
The message-development passage (labelled Abstract in our copy; page unavailable) says text4baby messages were translated into Spanish and the translations were reviewed by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. This supports an example of language translation, but the paper does not establish that SMS interventions generally use this approach or that the messages were adapted to reflect health beliefs, norms, and social practices. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCultural adaptation may reflect the nuances of language and cultural practices, so that health messages and services reflect their history, health beliefs and norms, social practices, and political and economic characteristics.
“Cultural adaptation may reflect the nuances of language and cultural practices, so that health messages and services reflect their history, health beliefs and norms, social practices, and political and economic characteristics [10-14].”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [14]
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“The cultural adaptation of SMS text message interventions has generally included language translation, so that health messages reflect health beliefs, norms, and social practices [62].”
Background
- Authors
- Whittaker, R., Matoff-Stepp, S., Meehan, J., Kendrick, J., Jordan, E., Stange, P., Cash, A., Meyer, P., Baitty, J., Johnson, P., Ratzan, S., & Rhee, K.
- Affiliations
- Health Resources and Services Administration (US)
- Johnson & Johnson (United States) (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Published
- 2012-12
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2207-2213
- ISSN
- 0090-0036 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0048
- PMC
- PMC3519339
- OpenAlex
- W2020638884
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 15.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
- Keywords
- text messaging, mobile health, pregnant women, postpartum women, maternal health, infant health, health information services, public-private partnerships, service uptake, health promotion
- MeSH terms
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S., Female, Humans, Maternal Health Services, Maternal Welfare, Pregnancy, United States, Program Evaluation, Program Development, Cell Phone, Public-Private Sector Partnerships, Text Messaging, Health Information Systems
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