Providing an Optimized and emPowered Pregnancy for You (PᵌOPPY) Feasibility Study

Feasibility Study Aims

• To assess the feasibility of the digital health (DHI) and community health worker (CHW) interventions by assessing participant acceptance and use of the intervention.
• To assess study enrollment to determine appropriateness and usefulness of the inclusion and exclusion criteria to estimate enrollment duration in the planned trial.
• To determine the number of prenatal visits and the incidence of some of the maternal and neonatal outcomes (ones with higher prevalence) or surrogate outcomes that will be targeted in the planned factorial design randomized controlled trial. (Data will be collected on all relevant maternal and neonatal outcomes. The randomized feasibility design will allow for effect size estimates of the intervention on the incidence of maternal and neonatal outcomes, which will aid in determining the appropriate target outcomes as well as power calculation of the more definitive trial.)

The PᵌOPPY study is designed to support the American Heart Association's mission to improve maternal/infant health outcomes and address inequities in maternal/infant health care. The promise of digital health and community health worker engagement makes PᵌOPPY interventions potentially transformative, sustainable, and scalable for Non-Hispanic Black mothers and their infants from under-served communities in Alabama and beyond. The objective of this pilot study is to determine if it is feasible to randomize and implement digital health and community health worker interventions.

Design Summary

The investigators will challenge existing care paradigms by testing the effectiveness of integrating innovative platforms into the existing healthcare system, including existing digital health and community health worker programs from within the EQUATE consortium, to eliminate critical barriers to equitable healthcare access. After seeking input from a Community Advisory Board, these interventions will be refined and deployed for pilot testing. Individuals in Non-Hispanic Black communities at the highest risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes which were historically underrepresented in clinical research due to structural racism will be included. The investigative team employs experts across the community, maternal, and infant health continuum.

For this pilot, 40 eligible participants will be randomized, 10 to usual care, 10 to DHI, 10 to CHW, and 10 to DHI + CHW

Inclusion criteria

• Self Identifies as Non-Hispanic Black
• Between 16-49 years old
• Pregnant individuals between 8⁰ - 22⁶ weeks gestational age
• Live singleton or dichorionic twin gestation
• Dating sonogram at <23 weeks gestation
• Area Deprivation Index (ADI) National 4th or 5th Quintile
• Planning to deliver at UAB Hospital
• Speaks and writes in English
• No indication for delivery at the time of enrollment

Exclusion criteria

• Declines randomization
• Speaks or writes in languages other than English
• Currently incarcerated
• Fetal demise diagnosed prior to enrollment
• Known major structural chromosomal abnormalities prior to enrollment