Feasibility and effectiveness of an automated bilingual text message intervention for weight loss: pilot study.

BACKGROUND Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of tailored text message based weight loss programs for English and Spanish language speakers OBJECTIVE This pilot study evaluated the feasibility acceptability and estimated impact of a tailored text message based weight loss program for English and Spanish language speakers The purpose of this pilot study was to inform the development of a full scale randomized trial METHODS There were 20 overweight or obese participants mean age 40 10 SD 8 05 8 20 40 male 9 20 45 Spanish speakers that were recruited in San Diego California from March to May 2011 and evaluated in a one group pre post clinical trial For 8 weeks participants received and responded to 3 5 text messages daily sent from a fully automated text messaging system They also received printed weight loss materials and brief 10 15 minute weekly counseling calls To estimate the impact of the program the primary outcome was weight kg measured during face to face measurement visits by trained research staff Pre and post differences in weight were analyzed with a one way repeated measures analysis of variance Differences by language preference at both time points were analyzed with t tests Body mass index and weight management behaviors also were examined Feasibility and acceptability were determined by recruitment success adherence ie percentage of replies to interactive text messages and attrition and participant satisfaction RESULTS Participants who completed the final assessment N 18 decreased body weight by 1 85 kg F1 17 10 80 P 004 CI 0 66 3 03 2 0 39 At both time points there were no differences in weight by language preference Participants responded to 88 04 986 1120 of interactive text messages attrition rate was 10 2 20 and 94 19 20 of participants reported satisfaction with the program CONCLUSIONS This fully automated text message based weight program was feasible with English and Spanish speakers and may have promoted modest weight loss over an 8 week period TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials gov NCT01171586 http clinicaltrials gov ct2 show NCT01171586 Archived by WebCite at http www webcitation org 6Ksr6dl7n

Keywords

Feasibility, Effectiveness, Text, SMS, Health education or promotion, Preventive, Chronic care, Obesity, Alignment with local norms, Pilot, Non-randomized, Low adherence to treatments