# Leveraging interactive SMS messaging to monitor and support maternal mental health in Kenya

> **NIH NIH K18** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2021 · $128,116

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Perinatal depression, defined as a depressive episode during pregnancy or in the first year postpartum, is the
most common complication of childbirth, affecting up to 20% of peripartum women globally. An enormous gap
exists in supporting women experiencing perinatal depression. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions such as
interactive SMS text messaging with healthcare workers (HCWs) have been proposed as resource-efficient,
accessible adjuncts to in-person care. Realizing the full public health potential of mHealth for mental health will
require strategic use of automation and empiric definition of interventions that dynamically adapt to user needs.
This K18 mentored career enhancement award aims to support Dr. Keshet Ronen, an epidemiologist with
multidisciplinary training, to become an expert in analysis of mHealth communication and development of
adaptive mHealth interventions. Building on Dr. Ronen’s established expertise in development and evaluation of
mHealth interventions using SMS and social media, and supported by a team of experienced mentors, the
following research and training aims are proposed.
Training plan: Through didactic coursework, individual mentor meetings, seminars, and conferences, Dr. Ronen
seeks to accomplish the following Career Enhancement Goals. (1) Gain proficiency and experience using natural
language processing and machine learning methods to analyze mHealth communication. (2) Gain proficiency
and experience in design of an adaptive mHealth intervention. (3) Deepen understanding of mHealth intervention
design for mental health. (4) Enhance skills in international study implementation and clinical trial design.
The proposed training plan will augment Dr. Ronen’s prior training and experience and allow her to complete the
proposed Research plan: Mobile WACh is a unique interactive SMS messaging platform that has been shown
to improve maternal-child health and whose impact on perinatal depression is currently being evaluated in a
randomized controlled trial in Kenya, Mobile WACh Neo. We propose to leverage a dataset of >100,000 SMS
messages with >3000 peripartum women in previous and ongoing Mobile WACh studies to (1) develop a
predictive model that can detect client SMS indicating elevated depression symptoms, and (2) identify HCW
message characteristics associated with improvements in depression symptoms. (3) Models from Aims 1-2 will
be implemented in the Mobile WACh software to develop an adaptive version of Mobile WACh Neo that flags
concerning messages and guides HCWs on SMS composition. A pilot study of Adaptive Mobile WACh Neo will
be conducted, nested within the Mobile WACh Neo randomized controlled trial in Kenya (R01HD098105), to
evaluate its acceptability and preliminary impact on time taken for HCWs to respond to client messages.
Collectively, these activities will enable Dr. Ronen to become a leader in the study of adaptive mHealth
interventions to support maternal mental health in resource-lim...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10176601
- **Project number:** 5K18MH122978-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Keshet Ronen
- **Activity code:** K18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $128,116
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10176601

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10176601, Leveraging interactive SMS messaging to monitor and support maternal mental health in Kenya (5K18MH122978-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10176601. Licensed CC0.

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