St. Vincent Healthcare, Rimrock and RiverStone Health Create a “Healthy SPARK” for Women

In partnership with St. Vincent Healthcare, Rimrock, and RiverStone Health, the Healthy SPARK program improves overall health for prenatal and postpartum women who may also be dealing with substance use disorder (SUD). Through effective prevention, treatment, and diversion efforts within maternal child health populations, Healthy SPARK also reduces costly complications from SUD. The implementation of Care Messages and GoMo Chat, Healthy SPARK intervenes at critical moments for program participants who struggle with SUD.

Goals

• Maintain a connection to treatment and wellness plan
• Mother and Child attend well visit and check-up appointments
• Engage with community activities and resources
• Use coping skills to manage mental and physical health
• Increase lifestyle independence
• Attaches to support other than medical home

A Supportive Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle

Program participants receive Care Messages at regular intervals that help support their journey to a safe, healthy lifestyle. Care message topics can include:

• Child’s Growth and Development Milestones
• Community Resources
• Emotional Support
• Financial, Housing, and Food Assistance
• Coping Strategies
• Trigger Management
• Support Groups and Programs

Resources on Demand

The information delivered in Care Messages may direct mothers to the Care Companion, a learning management system that can be accessed at any time, to learn more. The Care Companion gives program participants on-demand access to educational materials as well as lifestyle and emotional support. Each program participant has their own personal page which organizes content relevant to the person’s individual needs in their healthcare journey. All content within the Companion can be shared via social media, email, or text, allowing participants to educate others in their networks as well.

Ongoing Support On-Demand

In addition to the Care Messages delivered to them automatically, program participants are able to text in the following keywords to trigger the delivery of curated content. This on-demand content is designed to help women in their time of need. Program keywords include:

• COPE – Strategies to manage urges
• HALT – Coping with feelings of hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness
• MOOD – Feel good, motivational messaging
• PEER –  Stories of those in recovery who understand the journey
• RELAX – Comforting words to deal with anxiety and urge control
• SMILE – Offers a lighthearted joke
• SONG – Links to an uplifting song
• TALK – Healthy SPARK team member will contact the person

Human-to-Human Connection During Critical Motherhood Moments

GoMo Chat is also utilized in the Healthy SPARK program as an integral communication tool between the Healthy SPARK team, their partners, and the program’s participants. With a secure, IM-like interface, GoMo Chat increases care coordination productivity by facilitating in-the-moment engagement.

BehavioralRx

GoMo Health leveraged its proprietary emerging science, BehavioralRx®, the science of precision health, to build these programs and determine the engagement strategy, approach, and content delivered.

The following behavioral and cognitive techniques were applied:

• Anchoring Technology / Cognitively connecting the desired action with an existing everyday activity.
• Conditioning Technology / Reinforcing target behavior.
• Influence Technology / Persuasion through shared decision making.
• Nurturing Technology / Guided persuasion.
• Reduction Technology / Persuasion through simplifying.
• Suggestion Technology / Intervening at the right time.
• Tailoring Technology / Persuasion through customization.