CellTrust Corporation, the world's largest provider of SecureSMS™ (Secure SMS) for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today that its GlobalSMS platform solution has been selected by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), for the world's first text message pilot program to offer breastfeeding support for new mothers in Australia.
The "Mumbubconnect" trial, concepted and engineered by Andre La Porte, a Digital Media and Social Marketing Specialist in Brisbane, Australia, for a team from QUT's School of Public Health and the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, is the first of its kind to use two-way SMS to provide support for breastfeeding mothers. The text messages provide a direct link with breastfeeding women and offer support, encouragement and advice when needed. For example if a mother responds to a text message indicating she is struggling with breastfeeding, she will be sent an encouraging response, along with hints on how to get through the difficult times. This pilot program aims to facilitate QUT's research and ultimately to increase breastfeeding rates among new mothers.
"Our research found that text messages are an ideal way to communicate with new mothers, because they send and receive messages on their mobile devices throughout the day," said Mr. La Porte. "CellTrust Australia had our system up and running in less than two hours and it's easy to use. I was astonished to find that a particular vendor would have to build a specific SMS platform application from scratch, and that other vendors with existing technology had platforms that were complicated to program and manage."
It is important to note that standard SMS is not secure and can be spoofed. CellTrust's GlobalSMS Gateway also features SecureSMS a tamper-proof process, which enables message sizes up to 5,000 characters versus standard text messages, which allow up to only 160 characters.
"We can assure participants of Mumbubconnect that their information and all conversations with us are completely private, which is crucial when dealing with people's health issues, and after this initial trial is carried out, further information could be gathered by utilising Celltrust's two-way SecureSMS platform," said Nick Goritsas, Managing Director, CellTrust of Australia. "It is exciting that Andre La Porte chose to leverage CellTrust's technology for QUT to deliver this groundbreaking new service to new mothers in Australia."
La Porte has spent over two years developing the SMS-based concept for QUT, which incorporated various areas of research into women's behaviours and use of technology. A preliminary study by QUT of mothers has revealed that women find breastfeeding difficult in the first few months and they are receptive to receiving text messages about breastfeeding, especially if these are linked to a resource where they can access further information. Overall the study found the response to an SMS social marketing campaign was positive. It also found new young mothers in particular use their mobile phone as an essential link to peers, family and friends.
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