The protocol of DECO-MOM: a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of a mobile application for an environmental health intervention among pregnant women

BACKGROUND: Environmental toxins are particularly harmful to pregnant women and their fetuses due to the long-term effects of these toxins on children after birth. Environmental health behaviors can prevent and protect mothers and their babies’ environmental health. METHODS/DESIGN: This study presents a protocol for a double-blinded randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of a mobile application named “DECO-MOM” (Deep ECOlogy-MOM) for pregnant women. This application contains content related to environmental perceptions and behaviors according to the revised protection motivation theory. The mobile intervention will be implemented for 4 weeks for 40 pregnant women with a gestational age in the first trimester. As the control group, 40 pregnant women will be recruited at public healthcare centers in Chuncheon and Gongju in South Korea. The hypothesis is that the experimental group will have higher scores for environmental perceptions and behaviors than the control group. An online survey administered before and after the intervention will contain outcome parameters including depression, stress, quality of life, e-learning satisfaction, environmental perceptions, and environmental behaviors. DISCUSSION: This study will elaborate a guide for an intervention to enhance the effects of the mobile application on strengthening environmental health perceptions, behaviors, e-learning satisfaction, and quality of life and curtailing depression and stress among pregnant women. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial registration Number: KCT0007725, Registered September 22, 2022. Prospectively registered.