Value Proposition
• Personalized, remotely delivered behavioral program integrated with clinical & community care
• Integrates with cellular smart scale to seamlessly transfer data to mHealth app, users and health coaches
• Interactive learning modules and goal-setting activities for weight management
• Supports a diverse population, including those with low literacy, low socioeconomic backgrounds, and Spanish speakers
Unmet Need
• Managing weight gain during and after pregnancy is important to improving maternal and infant outcomes. This issue is salient due to the rising prevalence of maternal obesity.
• Despite the benefits of healthy weight management pre- and postpartum, obesity prevention and behavioral weight management programs are not well integrated with maternal care. There is a lack of evidence-based programs that offer personalized, accessible health coaching during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
• Current weight management and health coaching programs are often privately offered and not integrated with prenatal or postpartum healthcare. This poses a barrier to weight management support, particularly for patients of lower socioeconomic status.
• Therefore, there is a strong need for an accessible, personalized weight management program that integrates with prenatal and postpartum care.
Technology Description
• Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed a remote behavioral health coaching program to promote healthy weight gain during pregnancy and weight loss during postpartum.
• The technology integrates video or phone support from trained health coaches with an app that provides educational modules, integrates with a cellular-enabled smart scale, and supports both English and Spanish-speaking patients.
Stage of Development
• Prototyping and feasibility/scalability testing via randomized clinical trial complete
• Seeking other avenues to pilot and license the trainings and technology
Publication
Drabo EF, McKinney CD, Martin LM, Nair D, Coughlin JW, Chen T, Borahay MA, Wang NY, Bennett WL. Protocol for the economic evaluation of the "Healthy for Two/Healthy for You" pragmatic lifestyle intervention in prenatal care to reduce gestational weight gain and gestational diabetes mellitus. Contemp Clin Trials. 2025 Sep;156:108037. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2025.108037. Epub 2025 Jul 31. PMID: 40752820; PMCID: PMC12673530.
Martin LM, McKinney CD, Escobar Acosta L, Coughlin JW, Jeffers NK, Solano-Umaña A, Carson KA, Wang NY, Bennett WL, Bower KM. Remote Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Postpartum Weight Retention: Protocol for a Community-Engaged Hybrid Type I Effectiveness-Implementation Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2025 Jan 7;14:e62847. doi: 10.2196/62847. PMID: 39773922; PMCID: PMC11751656.
Bennett WL, Coughlin JW, Henderson J, Martin S, Yazdy GM, Drabo EF, Showell NN, McKinney C, Martin L, Dalcin A, Sanders R, Wang NY. Healthy for Two/Healthy for You: Design and methods for a pragmatic randomized clinical trial to limit gestational weight gain and prevent obesity in the prenatal care setting. Contemp Clin Trials. 2022 Feb;113:106647. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106647. Epub 2021 Dec 8. PMID: 34896296; PMCID: PMC8844210.
Coughlin JW, Martin LM, Henderson J, Dalcin AT, Fountain J, Wang NY, Appel LJ, Clark JM, Bennett W. Feasibility and acceptability of a remotely-delivered behavioural health coaching intervention to limit gestational weight gain. Obes Sci Pract. 2020 Jul 16;6(5):484-493. doi: 10.1002/osp4.438. PMID: 33082990; PMCID: PMC7556432.
Ayyala MS, Coughlin JW, Martin L, Henderson J, Ezekwe N, Clark JM, Appel LJ, Bennett WL. Perspectives of pregnant and postpartum women and obstetric providers to promote healthy lifestyle in pregnancy and after delivery: a qualitative in-depth interview study. BMC Womens Health. 2020 Mar 4;20(1):44. doi: 10.1186/s12905-020-0896-x. PMID: 32131832; PMCID: PMC7057562.
