Use of Text Messaging for Monitoring Sugar-sweetened Beverages, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Children: A Pilot Study
Abstract
Objective
To examine acceptability, attrition, adherence, and preliminary efficacy of mobile phone short message service (SMS; text messaging) for monitoring healthful behaviors in children.
Design
All randomized children received a brief psychoeducational intervention. They then either monitored target behaviors via SMS with feedback or via paper diaries (PD) or participated in a no-monitoring control (C) for 8 weeks.
Setting
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Participants
Fifty-eight children (age 5-13) and parents participated; 31 completed (SMS: 13/18, PD: 7/18, C: 11/22).
Intervention
Children and parents participated in a total of 3 group education sessions (1 session weekly for 3 weeks) to encourage increasing physical activity and decreasing screen time and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
Main Outcome Measures
Treatment acceptability, attrition, and adherence to self-monitoring.
Analysis
Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were used to analyze differences across time and group.
Results
Children in SMS had somewhat lower attrition (28%) than both PD (61%) and C (50%), and significantly greater adherence to self-monitoring than PD (43% vs 19%, P < .02).
Conclusions and Implications
Short message service may be a useful tool for self-monitoring healthful behaviors in children, although the efficacy of this approach needs further study. Implications suggest that novel technologies may play a role in improving health.
1Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2Centre for Psychotherapy Research, University of Heidelberg, Germany
3Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
4Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Address correspondence to: Jennifer R. Shapiro, PhD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Psychiatry, CB 7160, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; Phone: (919) 966-5262; Fax: (919) 966-4180
Support for this research project was provided by the Ambulatory Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award; an unrestricted gift from the Gatorade Company for the Get Kids in Action Partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; National Institutes of Health grants 5T32MH19111-15 and DK56350 and an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung German-American Trans-Coop grant.
ABSTRACT