Women often make dietary changes during pregnancy; however, dietary modifications and reasons for changes are not well studied. We aimed to describe the dietary changes made during pregnancy, describe reasons for dietary changes, and determine what changes aligned with recommendations. Pregnant women (n = 379) recruited to the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) study in 2009/2010 completed a questionnaire in which they described dietary changes made during pregnancy and reasons for those changes. Changes and reasons were coded into categories. Women commonly reported increasing their intake of milk products, fruit, and sweet items and commonly decreased or eliminated intake of caffeine, alcohol, and meats. Women frequently reduced intake of foods for the baby’s health and increased foods to satisfy cravings. Changes made commonly aligned with recommendations for caffeine, alcohol intake, food safety, milk and alternatives, and fruit. Changes contrary to recommendations were common for fish and meats. The dietary changes women make during pregnancy appear to reflect women’s efforts to balance physiological changes accompanying pregnancy with the desire for healthy pregnancy outcomes. Understanding the reasons behind dietary change during pregnancy will help researchers and health professionals design effective strategies and public health messages to promote healthier pregnancies.

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: As the use of digital media for health promotion becomes increasingly common, descriptive studies exploring current and innovative marketing strategies will enhance understanding of effective strategies and best practices. Objective: To describe the implementation of a provincial digital media campaign using complementary advertising platforms to promote healthy pregnancy weight gain messages and direct an online audience to a credible website. Methods: The digital media campaign occurred in three phases, each for eight weeks, and consisted of search engine marketing using Google AdWords and social media advertising through Facebook. All advertising materials directed users to evidence-based pregnancy-related weight gain content on the Healthy Parents, Healthy Children website. Results: Google ads received a total of 43,449 impressions, 2,522 clicks and an average click through rate (CTR) of 5.80%. Of the people who clicked on a Google ad, 78.9% completed an action on the website. Across all Facebook ads there was a total of 772,263 impressions, 14,482 clicks and an average CTR of 1.88%. The highest performing ad was an image of a group of diverse pregnant women with the headline: Pregnancy weight is not the same for every woman. Conclusions: This study supports the use of digital marketing as an important avenue for delivering health messages and directing online users to credible sources of information. The opportunity to reach large, yet targeted audiences, along with the ability to monitor and evaluate metrics in order to optimize activities throughout a campaign is a powerful advantage over traditional marketing tactics. Health organizations can use the results and insights of this study to help inform the design and implementation of similar online activities.

BACKGROUND As the use of digital media for health promotion has become increasingly common, descriptive studies exploring current and innovative marketing strategies can enhance the understanding of effective strategies and best practices. OBJECTIVE This study aims to describe the implementation of a provincial digital media campaign using complementary advertising platforms to promote healthy pregnancy weight gain messages and direct a Web audience to a credible website. METHODS The digital media campaign occurred in 3 phases, each for 8 weeks, and consisted of search engine marketing using Google AdWords and social media advertising through Facebook. All advertising materials directed users to evidence-based pregnancy-related weight gain content on the Healthy Parents, Healthy Children website. RESULTS Google Ads received a total of 43,449 impressions, 2522 clicks, and an average click-through rate (CTR) of 5.80%. Of people who clicked on a Google ad, 78.9% (1989/2522) completed an action on the website. Across all Facebook advertisements, there were 772,263 impressions, 14,482 clicks, and an average CTR of 1.88%. The highest-performing advertisement was an image of a group of diverse pregnant women with the headline “Pregnancy weight is not the same for every woman.” CONCLUSIONS This study supports the use of digital marketing as an important avenue for delivering health messages and directing Web users to credible sources of information. The opportunity to reach large, yet targeted audiences, along with the ability to monitor and evaluate metrics to optimize activities throughout a campaign is a powerful advantage over traditional marketing tactics. Health organizations can use the results and insights of this study to help inform the design and implementation of similar Web-based activities.