Institute For The Future

More evidence that text messaging is a powerful health tool

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted the 2009 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media.  I wish I could have been there.  Thankfully, Susannah Fox, researcher extraordinaire for the Pew Internet & American Life Project and a regular contributor to e-patients.net, has posted a partial accounting of the proceedings. I encourage those of you interested in the role of social media and health to read her post and the accompanying informative comments.

I am going to highlight one specific presentation.  Janice Nall of the CDC's National Center for Health Marketing moderated a panel on social media’s promise for public health.  As a panelist, Susannah discussed a study that examined the effectiveness of mobile phones and SMS text messaging to promote behavior change, a topic we explored deeply at our conference last year on mobile health.  Susannah reports:

 

The Center for Connected Health conducted a randomized trial in 2008 using text messaging to send a daily weather report and reminder to apply sunscreen. The control group did not receive any reminders. Everyone got a tube of sunscreen with a monitor strapped onto it so every time the cap was removed, a text message was sent back to the researchers.  Study participants who received text reminders applied the sunscreen an average of 56% of the time, compared with the control group, which had a mean daily adherence rate of 30%.

 

 

With 85% of American adults carrying cell phones these days, it is time to think about how mobile, social technology can help public health officials do their jobs.

 

Susannah's post also pointed me to a study described by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; a Delaware pilot program showed that monthly text messages "increased compliance with recommended blood glucose testing in Medicaid managed care enrollees with diabetes."  Other examples of effective text messaging used in health contexts (such as STOMP, a smoking cessation campaign, and mDiet, a personalized weight management program) can be found in Texting 4 Health, edited by BJ Fogg, Director of Stanford's Persuasive Technology Lab, and IFTF Research Affiliate Richard Adler.

One of the comments provided another interesting link. I recently wondered whether there is any evidence that social networks for physicians are likely to improve health outcomes.  Similarly, has anyone studied the effect social networks have on patients?  It turns out that Center for Connected Health (mentioned above) has.  You can find the abstract for the report, The role of online support communities: benefits of expanded social networks to patients with psoriasis, here. Related links can be found there, as well.