mhealth Evidence
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mHealth Evidence was launched in 2012 to bring together the world’s literature on “mHealth” (broadly speaking, the application of mobile technologies to health service delivery). The collection was intended to help program managers, researchers, government leaders, donors, software developers, and other key decision-makers quickly get up to speed on the current state-of-the-art and evidence-based best practices. It included 11,000 bibliographic records of peer-reviewed and gray literature from low-, middle- and high-resource settings, with basic and advanced search. The database categorized evidence according to a taxonomy developed in partnership with the World Health Organization’s mHealth Technical and Evidence Review Group (mTERG).
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Browsing mhealth Evidence by Subject "Appointment reminders"
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- ItemApplication of mobile-technology for disease and treatment monitoring of malaria in the "Better Border Healthcare Programme".(2010-09-09) Meankaew, Pongthep; Kaewkungwal, Jaranit; Khamsiriwatchara, Amnat; Khunthong, Podjadeach; Singhasivanon, Pratap; Satimai, WichaiBACKGROUND The main objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of integrating the use of cell phones into a routine malaria prevention and control programme to improve the management of malaria cases among an under served population in a border area The module for disease and treatment monitoring of malaria DTMM consisted of case investigation and case follow up for treatment compliance and patients symptoms METHODS The module combining web based and mobile technologies was developed as a proof of concept in an attempt to replace the existing manual paper based activities that malaria staff used in treating and caring for malaria patients in the villages for which they were responsible After a patient was detected and registered onto the system case investigation and treatment details were recorded into the malaria database A follow up schedule was generated and the patient s status was updated when the malaria staff conducted their routine home visits using mobile phones loaded with the follow up application module The module also generated text and graph messages for a summary of malaria cases and basic statistics and automatically fed to predetermined malaria personnel for situation analysis Following standard public health practices access to the patient database was strictly limited to authorized personnel in charge of patient case management RESULTS The DTMM module was developed and implemented at the trial site in late November 2008 and was fully functioning in 2009 The system captured 534 malaria patients in 2009 Compared to paper based data in 2004 2008 the mobile phone based case follow up rates by malaria staff improved significantly The follow up rates for both Thai and migrant patients were about 94 99 on Day 7 Plasmodium falciparum and Day 14 Plasmodium vivax and maintained at 84 93 on Day 90 Adherence to anti malarial drug therapy based on self reporting showed high completion rate for P falciparum infected cases but lower rate for P vivax cases Patients symptoms were captured onto the mobile phone during each follow up visit either during the home visit or at Malaria Clinic most patients had headache muscle pain and fatigue and some had fever within the first follow up day day 7 14 after the first anti malarial drug dose CONCLUSIONS The module was successfully integrated and functioned as part of the malaria prevention and control programme Despite the bias inherent in sensitizing malaria workers to perform active case follow up using the mobile device the study proved for its feasibility and the extent to which community healthcare personnel in the low resource settings could potentially utilize it efficiently to perform routine duties even in remote areas The DTMM has been modified and is currently functioning in seven provinces in a project supported by the WHO and the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation to contain multi drug resistant malaria on the Thai Cambodian border
- ItemAssessing the effectiveness of text messages as appointment reminders in a pediatric dental setting.(2011-04-01) Nelson, Travis M; Berg, Joel H; Bell, Janice F; Leggott, Penelope J; Seminario, Ana LuciaBACKGROUND Text messaging is a dominant form of communication in our society However little research has been conducted to evaluate its effectiveness as an appointment reminder in the dental setting METHODS From the patient pool of the pediatric dentistry clinic at the University of Washington Seattle the authors invited 543 caregiver child dyads who met eligibility criteria to participate in this study They randomly assigned 318 pairs 59 percent response to receive a short message service SMS text message n 158 or a voice message control group n 160 as an appointment reminder RESULTS Younger caregivers were more likely to be nonattendees than were older caregivers P 02 Participants in the voice message group had a lower no show attendance 8 2 percent than did those in the text message group 17 7 percent P 01 The unadjusted odds ratio OR for type of appointment reminder and no show attendance was 2 41 P 01 After the authors adjusted for the caregiver s age the OR was 2 12 P 04 CONCLUSIONS SMS text messages were not as effective as voice reminders for patients in a dental school pediatric dentistry clinic Future studies should investigate the effect of text message reminders when limited to patients who self select that type of reminder and in patient populations outside the university setting CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Text messaging may not be the preferable method of reminding patients about appointments in a university pediatric dental clinic
- ItemAwareness and using of medical students about mobile health technology in clinical areas.(2013-09-23) Ehteshami, Asghar; Hachesu, Peyman Rezaei; Esfahani, Mahtab Kasayi; Rezazadeh, EsmaeilCONFLICT OF INTEREST NONE DECLARED INTRODUCTION Necessity of data transmission and getting contact with specialists is so evident in impassable regions In order to solve such problems there are different solutions one of which is mobile health technology Being small and user friendly easy to enter data and having low expense are some of its advantages This study aims to define the association between awareness of medical students in clinical stage about mobile health technology application and the rate of their using this technology in educational hospital of Isfahan in 2011 METHOD The study is a cross sectional analytical application research Sixty medical students were selected as samples from a society of 240 medical students A researcher made questionnaire was used The questionnaire included 21 multiple choice and 15 yes no questions which were corrected to reach a score A researcher made checklist with 5 fold Likert scale was used to define the rate of applying such technology The reliability of questionnaire was confirmed through a test retest The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software in descriptive and deductive statistics level FINDINGS The highest percentage of awareness about mobile health technology among medical students in the clinical stage of Azzahra educational hospital is 45 6 in nature areas and their lowest percentage of awareness is 17 8 in the infrastructure area In addition their mean awareness of all areas is 54 4 The highest percentage of using mobile health technology by medical students is 14 6 in the education area and their lowest percentage of usage is 6 8 in the treatment area Their mean usage of all areas is 9 4 as well CONCLUSION The rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology is not favorable Except for treatment there is no significant association between the rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology
- ItemBarriers to the implementation of mobile phone reminders in pediatric HIV care: a pre-trial analysis of the Cameroonian MORE CARE study.(2014-11-14) Bigna, Jean J; Noubiap, Jean J; Plottel, Claudia S; Kouanfack, Charles; Koulla-Shiro, SinataBACKGROUND Mobile health mhealth has emerged as a powerful resource in the medical armamentarium against human immunodeficiency virus HIV infection We sought to determine among adult caregivers of HIV exposed infected children the extent of mobile phone ownership the ability to communicate in Cameroon s national official languages NOL and the refusal to receive such reminders METHODS We conducted a pre trial analysis of potentials participants of the MORE CARE trial MORE CARE took place from January through March 2013 in three geographic locations in Cameroon We included caregivers aged 18 years or older Written communication was assessed by the ability to read and understand information presented in the consent form Verbal communication was assessed during a two way conversation and in a discussion about HIV infection A question about mobile phone ownership and another about refusal to receive reminders via mobile phone were phrased to allow Yes or No as the only possible reply A p Under0 05 was considered statistically significant RESULTS We enrolled 301 caregivers of HIV exposed infected children from rural n 119 semi urban n 142 and urban n 40 areas of Cameroon The mean caregiver age was 42 9 years SD 13 4 and 85 were women A fifth of our study population overall had at least one of the three obstacles to mobile phone reminders By region 39 5 in rural 6 3 in semi urban and 7 5 in urban setting had at least one obstacle with significant differences between the rural and urban settings pUnder0 001 and the rural and semi urban settings pUnder0 001 The acceptability of SMS was 96 3 and of mobile phone calls 96 p 0 054 The ability to communicate in NOL orally was 89 7 and 84 4 in writing p 0 052 Mobile phone ownership pUnder0 001 p 0 03 and the ability to communicate in an NOL orally pUnder0 001 p 0 002 or in writing both pUnder0 001 were significantly lower in rural compared to semi urban and urban settings respectively CONCLUSIONS The use of mHealth was limited in about one fifth of our population The greatest obstacle was the inability to use oral or written NOL followed by non ownership of a mobile phone These impediments were higher in a rural setting as compared to urban or semi urban areas
- ItemBeyond reminders: a conceptual framework for using short message service to promote prevention and improve healthcare quality and clinical outcomes for people living with HIV.(2012-02-22) Coomes, Curtis M; Lewis, Megan A; Uhrig, Jennifer D; Furberg, Robert D; Harris, Jennie L; Bann, Carla MThe availability of effective antiretroviral therapy has altered HIV from being an acute disease to being a chronic manageable condition for many people living with HIV PLWH Because of their ubiquity and flexibility mobile phones with short message service SMS offer a unique opportunity to enhance treatment and prevention for people managing HIV To date very few US studies using SMS for HIV self management have been published In this article we review the published SMS based intervention research that aimed to improve healthcare quality and outcomes for PLWH and other chronic health conditions and propose a conceptual model that integrates the communication functionality of SMS with important psychosocial factors that could mediate the impact of SMS on health outcomes We posit that an SMS based intervention that incorporates the elements of interactivity frequency timing and tailoring of messages could be implemented to encourage greater medication adherence as well as impact other mutually reinforcing behaviors and factors e g increasing patient involvement and social support reducing risk behaviors and promoting general health and well being to support better healthcare quality and clinical outcomes for PLWH We recommend that future studies explore the potential linkages between variations in SMS characteristics and these mediating factors to determine if and how they influence the larger outcomes
- ItemCommunication practices for pediatric immunization information: physician perceptions of parent health literacy skills.(2012-04-13) Chesser, Amy; Paschal, Angelia; Hart, Traci; Jones, Jordan; Williams, Katherine S; Ahlers-Schmidt, Carolyn R
- ItemComparison of the middle-aged and older users' adoption of mobile health services in China.(2014-01-20) Deng, Zhaohua; Mo, Xiuting; Liu, ShanOBJECTIVE Given the increasing number of older people China has become an aging society A mobile health service is a type of health informatics that provides personalized healthcare advice to those who require it especially the older people and the middle aged However few studies consider the adoption of mobile health services with regard to older and middle aged users This paper explored a research model based on the value attitude behavior model theory of planned behavior and four aging characteristic constructs to investigate how older and middle aged citizens adopted mobile health services METHOD The hypothesized model was empirically tested using data collected from a survey of 424 residents older than 40 years in China Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the significance of the path coefficients RESULTS The findings revealed that 1 perceived value attitude perceived behavior control and resistance to change can be used to predict intention to use mobile health services for the middle aged group 2 perceived value attitude perceived behavior control technology anxiety and self actualization need positively affected the behavior intention of older users and 3 subjective norm and perceived physical condition showed no significant effects on the behavior intention to use mobile health services for the two groups The theoretical and practical implications and contributions of this study are then discussed
- ItemThe context of desire to use marijuana: momentary assessment of young people who frequently use marijuana.(2013-01-08) Shrier, Lydia A; Walls, Courtney E; Kendall, Ashley D; Blood, Emily ADrawing on factors identified in the literature this study explored in the moment associations of social emotional and temporal contexts and perceived marijuana availability with desire to use the drug using momentary sampling methodology with young people who frequently use marijuana Forty one adolescent young adult medical outpatients aged 15 to 24 years who reported using marijuana at least twice a week completed 2 912 brief questionnaires on a handheld computer in response to signals emitted at random four to six times a day for 2 weeks The questionnaires assessed for the moment when signaled desire to use marijuana location companionship perceived ease of getting marijuana availability positive affect and negative affect Participants reported any desire to use marijuana on 1 528 reports 55 Companionship perceived availability and positive affect were independently associated with having any desire to use marijuana Once desire to use marijuana was present time of day positive affect and negative affect were independently associated with strength of desire By collecting data in real time in real life this study highlights the importance of examining and intervening on emotional environmental and temporal contexts for youth who frequently use marijuana in order to reduce their desire to use the drug
- ItemThe cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation support delivered by mobile phone text messaging: Txt2stop.(2013-08-26) Guerriero, Carla; Cairns, John; Roberts, Ian; Rodgers, Anthony; Whittaker, Robyn; Free, CarolineBACKGROUND The txt2stop trial has shown that mobile phone based smoking cessation support doubles biochemically validated quitting at 6 months This study examines the cost effectiveness of smoking cessation support delivered by mobile phone text messaging METHODS The lifetime incremental costs and benefits of adding text based support to current practice are estimated from a UK NHS perspective using a Markov model The cost effectiveness was measured in terms of cost per quitter cost per life year gained and cost per QALY gained As in previous studies smokers are assumed to face a higher risk of experiencing the following five diseases lung cancer stroke myocardial infarction chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease i e the main fatal or disabling but by no means the only adverse effects of prolonged smoking The treatment costs and health state values associated with these diseases were identified from the literature The analysis was based on the age and gender distribution observed in the txt2stop trial Effectiveness and cost parameters were varied in deterministic sensitivity analyses and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis was also performed FINDINGS The cost of text based support per 1 000 enrolled smokers is 16 120 which given an estimated 58 additional quitters at 6 months equates to 278 per quitter However when the future NHS costs saved as a result of reduced smoking are included text based support would be cost saving It is estimated that 18 LYs are gained per 1 000 smokers 0 3 LYs per quitter receiving text based support and 29 QALYs are gained 0 5 QALYs per quitter The deterministic sensitivity analysis indicated that changes in individual model parameters did not alter the conclusion that this is a cost effective intervention Similarly the probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated a 90 chance that the intervention will be cost saving INTERPRETATION This study shows that under a wide variety of conditions personalised smoking cessation advice and support by mobile phone message is both beneficial for health and cost saving to a health system
- ItemCurrent strategies for improving access and adherence to antiretroviral therapies in resource-limited settings.(2013-01-17) Scanlon, Michael L; Vreeman, Rachel CThe rollout of antiretroviral therapy ART significantly reduced human immunodeficiency virus HIV related morbidity and mortality but good clinical outcomes depend on access and adherence to treatment In resource limited settings where over 90 of the world s HIV infected population resides data on barriers to treatment are emerging that contribute to low rates of uptake in HIV testing linkage to and retention in HIV care systems and suboptimal adherence rates to therapy A review of the literature reveals limited evidence to inform strategies to improve access and adherence with the majority of studies from sub Saharan Africa Data from observational studies and randomized controlled trials support home based mobile and antenatal care HIV testing task shifting from doctor based to nurse based and lower level provider care and adherence support through education counseling and mobile phone messaging services Strategies with more limited evidence include targeted HIV testing for couples and family members of ART patients decentralization of HIV care including through home and community based ART programs and adherence promotion through peer health workers treatment supporters and directly observed therapy There is little evidence for improving access and adherence among vulnerable groups such as women children and adolescents and other high risk populations and for addressing major barriers Overall studies are few in number and suffer from methodological issues Recommendations for further research include health information technology social level factors like HIV stigma and new research directions in cost effectiveness operations and implementation Findings from this review make a compelling case for more data to guide strategies to improve access and adherence to treatment in resource limited settings
- ItemDeveloping content for a mHealth intervention to promote postpartum retention in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programs and early infant diagnosis of HIV: a qualitative study.(2014-09-03) Odeny, Thomas A; Newman, Maya; Bukusi, Elizabeth A; McClelland, R Scott; Cohen, Craig R; Camlin, Carol SBACKGROUND Maternal attendance at postnatal clinic visits and timely diagnosis of infant HIV infection are important steps for prevention of mother to child transmission PMTCT of HIV We aimed to use theory informed methods to develop text messages targeted at facilitating these steps METHODS We conducted five focus group discussions with health workers and women attending antenatal postnatal and PMTCT clinics to explore aspects of women s engagement in postnatal HIV care and infant testing Discussion topics were informed by constructs of the Health Belief Model HBM and prior empirical research Qualitative data were coded and analyzed according to the construct of the HBM to which they related Themes were extracted and used to draft intervention messages We carried out two stages of further messaging development messages were presented in a follow up focus group in order to develop optimal phrasing in local languages We then further refined the messages pretested them in individual cognitive interviews with selected health workers and finalized the messages for the intervention RESULTS Findings indicated that brief personalized caring polite encouraging and educational text messages would facilitate women bringing their children to clinic after delivery suggesting that text messages may serve as an important cue to action Participants emphasized that messages should not mention HIV due to fear of HIV testing and disclosure Participants also noted that text messages could capitalize on women s motivation to attend clinic for childhood immunizations CONCLUSIONS Applying a multi stage content development approach to crafting text messages informed by behavioral theory resulted in message content that was consistent across different focus groups This approach could help answer why and how text messaging may be a useful tool to support maternal and child health We are evaluating the effect of these messages on improving postpartum PMTCT retention and infant HIV testing in a randomized trial
- ItemDevelopment and functionality of a handheld computer program to improve fruit and vegetable intake among low-income youth.(2013-03-13) Nollen, Nicole L; Hutcheson, Tresza; Carlson, Susan; Rapoff, Michael; Goggin, Kathy; Mayfield, Carlene; Ellerbeck, EdwardMobile technologies hold promise for improving diet and physical activity but little attention is given to creating programs that adolescents like and will use This study developed a personal digital assistant PDA program to promote increased intake of fruits and vegetables FV in predominately low income ethnic minority girls This study used a three phase community engaged process including i engagement of a Student Advisory Board SAB to determine comfort with PDAs ii early testing of Prototype I and rapid re design by the SAB and iii feasibility testing of Prototype II in a new sample of girls Phase 1 results showed that girls were comfortable with the PDA Testing of Prototype I in Phase 2 showed that acceptability was mixed with girls responding to 47 3 of the prompts Girls wanted more reminders accountability in monitoring FV help in meeting daily goals and free music downloads based on program use The PDA was reprogrammed and testing of Prototype II in Phase 3 demonstrated marked improvement in use 78 3 increases in FV intake 1 8 2 6 daily servings and good overall satisfaction Findings suggest that mobile technology designed with the early input of youth is a promising way to improve adolescent health behaviors
- ItemThe DIAMIND study: postpartum SMS reminders to women who have had gestational diabetes mellitus to test for type 2 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial - study protocol.(2013-04-16) Heatley, Emer; Middleton, Philippa; Hague, William; Crowther, CarolineBACKGROUND Postpartum follow up of women who have been found to have gestational diabetes during pregnancy is essential because of the strong association of gestational diabetes with subsequent type 2 diabetes Postal reminders have been shown to increase significantly attendance for oral glucose tolerance testing postpartum It is possible that a short message service text reminder system may also be effective This trial aims to assess whether a text message reminder system for women who have experienced gestational diabetes in their index pregnancy will increase attendance for oral glucose tolerance testing within six months after birth METHODS DESIGN DESIGN Single centre Women s and Children s Hospital South Australia parallel group randomised controlled trial INCLUSION CRITERIA Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes in their index pregnancy oral glucose tolerance test with fasting glucose 5 5 mmol L and or two hour glucose 7 8 mmol L with access to a mobile phone whose capillary blood glucose profile measurements prior to postnatal discharge are all normal fasting glucose Under 6 0 mmol L postprandial glucoses Under 8 0 mmol L EXCLUSION CRITERIA Pregestational diabetes mellitus triplet higher order multiple birth or stillbirth in the index pregnancy requirement for interpreter Trial entry and randomisation Allocation to intervention will be undertaken using a telephone randomisation service computer generated random number sequence generation with balanced variable blocks and stratification by insulin requirement Study groups Women in the intervention group will receive a text reminder to attend for an oral glucose tolerance test at 6 weeks postpartum with further reminders at 3 months and 6 months if they do not respond to indicate test completion Women in the control group will receive a single text message reminder at 6 months postpartum Blinding Baseline data collection will be undertaken blinded Blinding of participants and blinded collection of primary outcome data will not be possible for this study Primary study outcome Attendance for the oral glucose tolerance test within 6 months postpartum SAMPLE SIZE 276 subjects will be required to show an 18 absolute increase in the rate of attendance 0 05 two tailed 80 5 loss to follow up from 37 to 55 in the intervention group DISCUSSION Given the heightened risk of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes in women who have had gestational diabetes ensuring the highest possible rate of attendance for postpartum glucose tolerance testing so that early diagnosis and intervention can occur is important A text message reminder system may prove to be an effective method for achieving improved attendance for such testing This randomised controlled trial will assess whether such a system will increase rates of attendance for postpartum oral glucose tolerance testing in women who have experienced gestational diabetes TRIAL REGISTRATION Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000621819
- ItemThe digital divide at an urban community health center: implications for quality improvement and health care access.(2011-05-09) Denizard-Thompson, Nancy M; Feiereisel, Kirsten B; Stevens, Sheila F; Miller, David P; Wofford, James LHealth care policy encourages better electronic connectivity between patient and the office practice However whether patients are able to partner with the practice in using communication technologies is not known We sought to determine 1 the proportion of clinic patients who use internet and cell phone text messaging technologies 2 the level of patient interest in using these technologies for the purpose of managing clinical appointments and patient education Consecutive adult patients clinicians and staff at an urban community health center were surveyed during a one week period in order to estimate the frequency of technology use by patients A total of 308 survey cards were collected during the designated week response rate of 85 308 362 One third 34 0 105 of surveyed patients used the internet and text messaging daily or weekly while nearly two thirds 59 7 182 never used these technologies There were no racial or gender differences in the proportion of patients who used the internet daily or weekly In contrast African Americans used text messaging more often than whites 28 2 vs 21 4 P Under 05 and females more than males 30 8 vs 18 5 P Under 05 Younger patients 50 used the internet and text messaging more often than older patients 50 6 vs 16 6 44 3 vs 7 3 respectively Despite the low use of both technologies patient s interest in managing clinic appointments was high 40 3 for the Internet and 56 8 for text messaging Clinicians and staff estimated patient s daily weekly use of internet and cellphone messaging at 40 3 22 0 and 56 8 25 7 respectively Most patients at this urban community health center reported never using the internet or cell phone text messaging Clinicians overestimated technology use by patients Planning for clinic infrastructure quality improvement and patient education should include assessment of technology use patterns by patients
- ItemEffect of mobile phone reminders on follow-up medical care of children exposed to or infected with HIV in Cameroon (MORE CARE): a multicentre, single-blind, factorial, randomised controlled trial.(2014-06-26) Bigna, Jean Joel R; Noubiap, Jean Jacques N; Kouanfack, Charles; Plottel, Claudia S; Koulla-Shiro, SinataBACKGROUND Missed scheduled HIV appointments lead to increased mortality resistance to antiretroviral therapy and suboptimum virological response We aimed to assess whether reminders sent to carers by text message mobile phone call or concomitant text message and mobile phone call increase attendance at medical appointments for HIV care in a population of children infected with or exposed to HIV in Cameroon We also aimed to ascertain the most cost effective method of mobile phone based reminder METHODS MORE CARE was a multicentre single blind factorial randomised controlled trial in urban semi urban and rural settings in Cameroon Carers of children who were infected with or had been exposed to HIV were randomly assigned electronically in blocks of four and allocated 1 1 1 1 sequentially to receive a text message and a call a text message only a call only or no reminder control Investigators were masked to group assignment Text messages were sent and calls made 2 or 3 days before a scheduled follow up appointment The primary outcomes were efficacy the proportion of patients attending a previously scheduled appointment and efficiency attendance measures of staff working time cost of the reminders as a measure of cost effectiveness The primary analysis was by intention to treat This study is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Register number PACTR201304000528276 FINDINGS The study took place between Jan 28 and May 24 2013 We randomly assigned 242 adult child carer patient pairs into four groups text message plus call n 61 call n 60 text message n 60 and control n 61 54 participants 89 in the text message plus call group 51 85 in the call group 45 75 in the text message group and 31 51 in the control group attended their scheduled appointment Compared with control the odds ratios for improvement in the primary efficacy outcome were 7 5 95 CI 2 9 19 0 pUnder0 0001 for text message plus call 5 5 2 3 13 1 p 0 0002 for call and 2 9 1 3 6 3 p 0 012 for text message No significant differences were seen in comparisons of the three intervention groups with each other and there was no synergism between text messages and calls For the primary efficiency outcome the mean difference for text message versus text message plus call was 1 5 95 CI 0 7 to 2 4 p 0 002 for call versus text message plus call was 1 2 0 7 to 1 6 pUnder0 0001 and for call versus text message was 0 4 1 3 to 0 6 p 0 47 INTERPRETATION Mobile phone based reminders of scheduled HIV appointments for carers of paediatric patients in low resource settings can increase attendance The most effective method of reminder was text message plus phone call but text messaging alone was the most efficient ie cost effective method FUNDING No external funding
- ItemThe effect of short messaging service text on non-attendance in a general ophthalmology clinic.(2011-08-29) Brannan, S O; Dewar, C; Taggerty, L; Clark, STo our knowledge there have been no previous studies that have examined the effect of short messaging service SMS text messaging reminders to both mobile and landlines on the did not attend DNA rate in adult hospital clinic attendees Our aim was to determine the effectiveness of a text messaging reminder in improving attendance in return general ophthalmology clinic patients Ophthalmology clinic patients requiring a follow up appointment were invited to enter the study An information leaflet was provided and patients were contacted two weeks before their scheduled appointment by way of a customized text message to either the mobile phone or landline The non attendance rate compared with historic non attendance rate was recorded Two hundred and one patients were recruited The historic DNA rate was 12 The DNA rate in the SMS text reminder group was reduced to 5 5 11 patients The historic Could not attend CNA rate of 6 had been reduced to 2 4 patients Forty seven percent of patients used mobile phone technology with text messaging capability and 69 responded to the text reminder In conclusion routine SMS texting is a cost effective means of reducing DNAs and should become standard practice In addition two way messaging could allow for further efficiency as advance notification of patient cancellations facilitates re scheduling of alternative patients
- ItemThe effect of two types of sms-texts on the uptake of screening mammogram: a randomized controlled trial.(2011-11-04) Lakkis, Najla A; Atfeh, Alaa M A; El-Zein, Youssef R; Mahmassani, Dina M; Hamadeh, Ghassan NOBJECTIVE To compare the effect of two different types of short text message service SMS text reminders on the uptake of screening mammogram METHODS A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2010 among females aged between 40 and 75 benefiting from the Health Insurance Plan at the American University of Beirut whose cell phone numbers were available in their electronic medical records and who did not do a mammogram in the past 2 years The sample n 385 was randomly divided into two subgroups The first subgroup n1 192 received a general SMS text inviting its members to do a mammogram while the second subgroup n2 193 received an additional informative SMS text informing them about the benefits of mammogram screening RESULTS 30 7 59 of subgroup 1 and 31 6 61 of subgroup 2 underwent a mammogram screening test during the 6 months follow up interval post intervention Chi square test p value 0 05 There was no difference between the response rates in the two subgroups CONCLUSION A brief invitation SMS text message for screening mammogram was found to be as effective as a detailed informative one
- ItemEffects of tooth scaling reminders for dental outpatients.(2013-10-28) Cheng, Chi-Chia J; Li, Chung-Yi; Hu, Yih-Jin; Shen, Hsi-Che; Huang, Shay-MinWe investigated the effect of sending reminders for patients to attend appointments for tooth scaling A total of 389 outpatients were assigned to three intervention groups reminders sent by postcard mobile phone text message or telephone call and one control group Reminders accompanied by short health education messages were sent to patients in each of the intervention groups The outpatient revisiting behaviour of the patients was monitored Patients who were reminded to come in for tooth scaling were 2 6 95 CI 1 3 5 4 to 2 9 CI 1 1 7 8 times more likely to revisit compared to those who were not reminded For every one point increase in the patient satisfaction score patients were 3 8 CI 1 2 11 6 times more likely to revisit Patients with a high level of patient satisfaction and who had also received a reminder had the highest return rates 26 Most patients 89 96 had good feelings regarding the reminders 65 of the patients agreed that reminders had enhanced their intention to revisit 91 of patients hoped to continue to receive reminders concerning broader dental health information A reminder combined with health education is an effective way of improving preventative dental visiting behaviour
- ItemEfficacy of mobile telephone contact for follow-up in injecting heroin users.(2011-02-10) Hakansson, A; Isendahl, P; Wallin, C; Berglund, MBACKGROUND Prospective follow up of heroin users is known to be difficult due to their unstable lifestyle and high follow up rates have usually demanded major tracking efforts In Sweden mobile telephones are commonly used by heavy drug users for drug trading OBJECTIVES This methodology study aims to examine the efficacy of mobile telephone contact for prospective follow up interviews with injecting heroin users recruited at the syringe exchange program of Malm Sweden METHODS Seventy eight heroin users with mobile telephone numbers were included Subjects reported using heroin for 28 days of the previous 30 days and only 8 reported they had recently been engaged in work or studies Clients were contacted between 15 and 21 times over 2 years with each contact attempt generally involving two telephone calls on consecutive days RESULTS During follow up 68 of subjects had been successfully contacted for at least one follow up interview on average 6 9 interviews and 25 of follow up attempts were successful In 23 of the sample n 18 at least 50 of follow up attempts were successful and these subjects tended to be older p 05 and more likely to be female p 07 whereas follow up rates were unrelated to baseline heroin use CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE Despite limited effort and despite the severe situation of intravenous heroin users mobile telephone contact can be used with heavy drug users in the present setting
- ItemExploring the focus and experiences of smartphone applications for addiction recovery.(2013-09-30) Savic, Michael; Best, David; Rodda, Simone; Lubman, Dan IAddiction recovery Smartphone applications apps n 87 identified on the Google Play store in 2012 were coded along with app user reviews to explore functions foci and user experiences Content analysis revealed that apps typically provided information on recovery as well as content to enhance motivation promote social support and tools to monitor progress App users commented that the apps helped to inform them keep them focussed inspire them and connect them with other people and groups Because few addiction recovery apps appear to have been formally evaluated further research is needed to ascertain their effectiveness as stand alone or adjunctive interventions