Blinded Sample Size Recalculation in Longitudinal Clinical Trials Using Generalized Estimating Equations

Effects of Maternal Adjustment Enhancement Program Using Mobile-Based Education for Chinese Immigrant Women in Korea: A Quasi-Experimental Study

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to develop a maternal adjustment program for Chinese immigrant primiparous women in Korea and to investigate its effectiveness.

METHODOLOGY

Forty-five Chinese immigrant women with newborns were recruited and conveniently assigned into experimental and control groups. A maternal adjustment enhancement program was initiated to the experimental group using a mobile-based education regarding cultural intimacy for 4 weeks.

RESULTS

In the follow-ups, the experimental group showed significantly higher knowledge of childcare and parenting efficacy. Both the experimental and control groups showed an improvement in social support and a decrease in childcare stress without between-group differences.

DISCUSSION

The maternal adjustment enhancement program can be utilized as an effective approach to improve knowledge of childcare and reinforce parenting efficacy of Chinese immigrant women in Korea. Strategies to reduce language barrier and to provide education with culturally friendly manners should be utilized for successful transition to motherhood among immigrant mothers.

Estimation after blinded sample size reassessment

Blinded sample size reassessment is a popular means to control the power in clinical trials if no reliable information on nuisance parameters is available in the planning phase. We investigate how sample size reassessment based on blinded interim data affects the properties of point estimates and confidence intervals for parallel group superiority trials comparing the means of a normal endpoint. We evaluate the properties of two standard reassessment rules that are based on the sample size formula of the z-test, derive the worst case reassessment rule that maximizes the absolute mean bias and obtain an upper bound for the mean bias of the treatment effect estimate.