Compared with other high-income countries, the USA continues to have the highest rates of pregnancy-related and associated mortality and morbidity (PRAMM), particularly in rural areas and among non-Hispanic black pregnancies. Over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable; however, the intensity of existing interventions has proven difficult to broadly disseminate. Technology offers the potential to address such barriers. This study will develop a multilevel digital intervention to reduce PRAMM and evaluate its effects using a site-randomised trial.
The Michigan Healthy Mom (MI MOM) intervention will be developed using a community-partnered approach and will seek to address PRAMM risks at four distinct levels: individual, support system, provider and community. Pregnant participants and up to three members of their personal support system will receive an initial brief interactive session through a mobile web app and will thereafter receive a series of text messages with links to extended content. Healthcare providers will receive biweekly text messages and/or flyers distributed in clinic staff areas, and community health workers—who can facilitate access to local services—will be available via secure live chat text access. MI MOM effects will be evaluated using a cluster-randomised trial in 10 antenatal care clinics throughout Michigan (N=500 pregnant participants aged 18+ years receiving Medicaid). We will compare intervention and control arms on two coprimary outcomes: total PRAMM through 1 year post partum as measured using a universally collected linked dataset of Medicaid claims and vital records and an index of PRAMM risk factors directly targeted by MI MOM.
The Michigan State University Institutional Review Board has provided ethical approval (STUDY00011005). Results will be disseminated via presentations at academic conferences and community forums, as well as publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Current diets which are commonly high in meat and ultra-processed foods are unhealthy and unsustainable and contribute significantly to climate change, environmental degradation and poor health outcomes. Transitioning to healthy and sustainable diets that are rich in plant-based foods and low in animal products could reduce environmental impacts and improve population health. Young Australian adults are a critical target group for dietary intervention as they are motivated towards climate action and have the lowest diet quality out of all adult age groups. As such, this study proposes a digital nutrition intervention to promote healthy and sustainable diets in this population group.
A 4-week pilot pre-post intervention will be conducted on the Deakin Wellbeing mobile application between July and August 2025. 32 young adults (18–25 years old; current student and/or staff at Deakin University; consume less than 260 g/week of legumes or 175 g/week nuts, living in Australia) will receive 4 weeks of the intervention to improve their adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet. Primary outcomes include feasibility (retention rate) and acceptability (engagement and user experience). Secondary outcomes include sustainable food literacy, legume and nut intakes, and adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet. Primary outcomes will be reported with descriptive statistics, while changes in secondary outcomes at each study time point will be measured using repeated measures Analysis of Variance, Friedman tests and McNemar’s tests.
Ethics approval to conduct the study was granted by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (2024/HE000163). A summary of findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders, for example, Deakin University Student Engagement groups, and will also be presented to the wider research community at conferences and via peer-reviewed publications. A summary of the results will be sent to all participants via email.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Registration ID: ACTRN12625000335493p, prospectively registered on 22 April 2025. Universal Trial Number: U1111-1319-0745.