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The effect of two types of sms-texts on the uptake of screening mammogram: a randomized controlled trial
Najla A Lakkis1, Alaa M A Atfeh, Youssef R El-Zein
1Department of Family Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon. ne23@aub.edu.lb
Objective:
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.