SmartMom™ is a free prenatal education text messaging program that sends you information timed to your stage of pregnancy to help you achieve healthy pregnancy and birth. Messages include links to websites and videos that show how your baby is growing and developing,
information to guide the important choices you’ll face, and tips on how to manage your labour. SmartMom™ is also your local and online guide to services and programs available to support you.
Terms of Consent
If you sign up for the SmartMom™ program, you will be asked to complete two optional surveys—one at enrollment and a follow-up survey near the end of your pregnancy. You will also be asked to provide your personal health number (PHN).
Your enrollment in the SmartMom™ program does not require completing the surveys or providing your PHN. Your participation in these surveys and providing your PHN is completely voluntary.
The information you are asked for in the surveys will be used as part of a research study to learn about the health and behavioural characteristics of pregnant women in British Columbia, including how women find out about SmartMom™,
who decides to sign up for the program, and who decides not to. This study is being conducted by Optimal Birth BC, a partnership between academic researchers from the
University of British Columbia and provincial health authorities. The purpose of Optimal Birth BC is to promote healthy pregnancy and birth.
The study has been approved by the Ethics Committees at the Fraser Health Authority and the University of British Columbia. You are being invited to take part in this study because you are pregnant and living in British Columbia.
There are no risks to you, nor are there any direct benefits, from taking part in the surveys. Your survey answers may help us learn how to better reach out to women to inform them about the program and help us to improve the program.
Your confidentiality is respected at all times: no information that discloses your identity will be published. Answers to survey questions will be reported in aggregate—that is, results will be reported for groups and not for individuals.
Your PHN would allow us to measure health outcomes such as number of prenatal visits attended, and interventions in labour and delivery, such as cesarean rates, in an anonymous fashion. Study staff and investigators will not see your
PHN and will not be able to link it to any information about your health outcomes. The SmartMom™ website administrator (MEMOTEXT in Toronto, ON) will send your PHN in a safe encrypted fashion to the Fraser Health Authority.
The Fraser Health Authority will use it to send the study team data about your labour and delivery but without your PHN attached. MEMOTEXT will then erase your PHN from their database.
Your participation in the surveys indicates that you are providing consent and that you are expecting that:
1. Any information you provide in the surveys will be kept confidential.
2. Only study staff, investigators, and website administrators (MEMOTEXT) will have access to your survey answers. Answers provided to study staff and investigators for analysis by MEMOTEXT will not be linked to your
name, phone number or personal health number (PHN). This means that study staff and investigators will not be able to see or link your personal identifying information to you or your answers.
By signing up for SmartMom™ you:
1. Agree and consent to receive Text Messages from SmartMom™
2. Accept that SmartMom™ does not provide you with any personalized medical advice with regard to your individual circumstances and/or your medical condition.
3. Acknowledge the right to discontinue your enrollment in SmartMom™ and/or the study surveys at any time without giving a reason and without any negative impact on you. You can discontinue receiving Text Messages from
SmartMom™ by texting “STOP” to the sender (12323).
4. Accept that, although your messages will be delivered without charge, certain data rates may apply for browsing links attached to the text messages, dependent on your phone service provider package.
5. Acknowledge that Text Messaging is generally non-secure and should not be used to send or receive Personal Information collected under the authority of the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Section 26(c).
Questions about the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Information should be directed to Seana-Lee Hamilton, Manager, Information Privacy Office at Information Privacy@fraserhealth.ca
or call 604-953-5015 extension 767070.
6. Confirm that you have had the opportunity to ask questions and you have had your questions answered to your satisfaction.
If you have any questions, or desire further information about this study or the SmartMom™ program before or after your participation, you can contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Patricia Janssen,
at 604-827-4026. You can also contact the Research Manager at 604-875-2314 toll-free at 1-855-871-BABY (2229) or by email
at contact@smartmomcanada.ca. If you have any concerns about your rights as a research subject and/or your experiences while participating in this study, contact the
Research Subject Information Line in the University of British Columbia Office of Research Services by e-mail at RSIL@ors.ubc.ca or by phone
at 604-822-8598 (Toll-Free Number: 1-877-822-8598).
Funding: This study and the development of SmartMom™ are funded by the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Alva Foundation.
For the complete SmartMom™ Terms of Consent, please visit: https://www.smartmomcanada.ca/tc.aspx