Promoting smoking cessation during pregnancy: a feasibility and pilot trial of a digital storytelling intervention delivered via text-messaging

Objective
Smoking during pregnancy causes risks to mother and infant health. We investigated the feasibility and likely success of SKIP-IT, a narrative and picture-based smoking cessation intervention delivered via text messages.

Methods
A feasibility and pilot trial. We aimed to recruit 70 pregnant women who smoked, randomised to usual care alone or usual care and the SKIP-IT intervention between 12 weeks of pregnancy and 6 weeks post due-date. Outcomes assessed were recruitment, retention, acceptability of, and engagement with the intervention, smoking behaviour, intentions, perceived risk, and self-efficacy.

Results
Of 312 women initially approached by smoking cessation services only 54 (17%) agreed to be contacted by the research team. Twenty were then either ineligible or uncontactable and 28 (82%) participated. Most women reported texts to be entertaining and helpful. The proportion of women not smoking at follow-up was lower in the intervention group, but numbers were too small to draw conclusions about effectiveness.

Conclusion
The intervention was acceptable, but difficulty in making initial and follow-up contacts meant our methods were unfeasible for a larger trial.

Practice implications
Digital Storytelling interventions could help women quit smoking, but further research is required to identify alternative methods for studies with pregnant women who smoke.