The Development of a Text Messaging Platform to Enhance a Youth Diabetes Prevention Program: Observational Process Study.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 1 in 5 adolescents in the United States has prediabetes, and racially and ethnically minoritized youths are disproportionately impacted. Unfortunately, there are few effective youth diabetes prevention programs, and in-person interventions are challenging because of barriers to access and engagement. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop and assess the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of a youth-informed SMS text messaging platform to provide additional support and motivation to adolescents with prediabetes participating in a diabetes prevention workshop in East Harlem, New York City, New York, United States. We collaborated with our youth action board and a technology partner (mPulse Mobile) to develop and pilot-test the novel interactive platform. METHODS: The technology subcommittee of our community action board (comprising youths and young adults) used the results from focus groups that we had previously conducted with youths from our community to develop 5 message types focused on healthy eating and active living: goal setting, behavior tracking, individually tailored guidance, motivational messages, and photo diary. We used an iterative process to develop and pilot the program with our internal study team, including youths from our community action board and mPulse Mobile developers. We then conducted a pilot of the 12-week SMS text messaging program with 13 youths with prediabetes. RESULTS: Participants (aged 15-21 years; 10/13, 77% female; 3/10, 23% Black and 10/13, 77% Hispanic or Latinx) received an average of 2 automated messages per day. The system correctly sent 84% (2231/2656) of the messages at the time intended; the remaining 16% (425/2656) of the messages were either sent at the incorrect time, or the system did not recognize a participant response to provide the appropriate reply. The level of engagement with the program ranged from 1 (little to no response) to 5 (highly responsive) based on how frequently participants responded to the interactive (2-way) messages. Highly responsive participants (6/13, 46%) responded >75% (1154/1538) of the time to interactive messages sent over 12 weeks, and 69% (9/13) of the participants were still engaged with the program at week 12. During a focus group conducted after program completion, the participants remarked that the message frequency was appropriate, and those who had participated in our in-person workshops reflected that the messages were reminiscent of the workshop content. Participants rated goal setting, behavior tracking, and tailored messages most highly and informed planned adaptations to the platform. Participants described the program as: "interactive, informative, enjoyable, very convenient, reliable, motivational, productive, and reflective." CONCLUSIONS: We partnered with youths in the initial content development and pilot testing of a novel SMS text messaging platform to support diabetes prevention. This study is unique in the triple partnership we formed among researchers, technology experts, and diverse youths to develop a mobile health platform to address diabetes-related disparities.

Tailoring a Text Messaging and Fotonovela Program to Increase Patient Engagement in Colorectal Cancer Screening in a Large Urban Community Clinic Population: Quality Improvement Project.

BACKGROUND: Appropriate annual screenings for colorectal cancer (CRC) are an essential preventive measure for the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Studies have shown that CRC screening rates are influenced by various social determinants of health (SDOH) factors, including race, ethnicity, and geography. According to 2018 national data, participation in screening is lowest among Hispanic or Latinx individuals (56.1%). At an urban Federally Qualified Health Center, a quality improvement project was conducted to evaluate a texting program with a motivational fotonovela-a short narrative comic. Fotonovelas have previously been used in programs to improve knowledge of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus, vaccinations, and treatments for depression. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to encourage compliance with fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening. Patient engagement involved a texting program with fotonovelas informed by behavior change techniques. This study sought to understand the qualitative characteristics of patient motivation, intention, and barriers to completing their screening. METHODS: A total of 5241 English-speaking or Spanish-speaking Federally Qualified Health Center patients aged 50 to 75 years were randomized to either intervention (a 4-week tailored 2-way texting program with a fotonovela comic) or usual care (an SMS text message reminder and patient navigator phone call). The texting vendor used a proprietary algorithm to categorize patients in the intervention group into SDOH bands based on their home addresses (high impact=high social needs and low impact=low social needs). Over 4 weeks, patients were texted questions about receiving and returning their FIT, what barriers they may be experiencing, and their thoughts about the fotonovela. RESULTS: The SDOH index analysis showed that most of the patient population was in the SDOH band categories of high impact (555/2597, 21.37%) and very high impact (1416/2597, 54.52%). Patients sent 1969 total responses to the texting system. Thematic analysis identified 3 major themes in these responses: messages as a reminder, where patients reported that they were motivated to return the FIT and had already done so or would do so as soon as possible; increasing patients' understanding of screening importance, where patients expressed an increased knowledge about the purpose and importance of the FIT; and expressing barriers, where patients shared reasons for not completing the FIT. CONCLUSIONS: The texting program and fotonovela engaged a subset of patients in each SDOH band, including the high and very high impact bands. Creating culturally tailored messages can encourage patient engagement for accepting the content of the messaging, confirming intentions to complete their FIT, and sharing insights about barriers to behavior change. To better support all patients across the continuum of care with CRC screening, it is important to continue to develop and assess strategies that engage patients who did not return their home-mailed FIT.

Using Text Messages and Fotonovelas to Increase Return of Home-Mailed Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests: Mixed Methods Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States; however, it is mostly preventable with appropriate screening and is often treatable when detected at early stages. Many patients enrolled in an urban Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) clinic were found to be past due for CRC screening. OBJECTIVE: This study described a quality improvement (QI) project to improve CRC screening rates. This project used bidirectional texting with fotonovela comics and natural language understanding (NLU) to encourage patients to mail fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits back to the FQHC. METHODS: The FQHC mailed FIT kits to 11,000 unscreened patients in July 2021. Consistent with the usual care, all patients received 2 text messages and a patient navigator call within the first month of mailing. As part of a QI project, 5241 patients who did not return their FIT kit within 3 months, aged 50-75 years, and spoke either English or Spanish were randomized to either usual care (no further intervention) or intervention (4-week texting campaign with a fotonovela comic and remailing kits if requested) groups. The fotonovela was developed to address known barriers to CRC screening. The texting campaign used NLU to respond to patients' texts. A mixed methods evaluation used data from SMS text messages and electronic medical records to understand the impact of the QI project on CRC screening rates. Open-ended text messages were analyzed for themes, and interviews were completed with a convenience sample of patients to understand barriers to screening and impact of the fotonovela. RESULTS: Of the 2597 participants, 1026 (39.5%) in the intervention group engaged with bidirectional texting. Participating in bidirectional texting was related to language preference (χ22=11.0; P=.004) and age group (χ22=19.0; P<.001). Of the 1026 participants who engaged bidirectionally, 318 (31%) clicked on the fotonovela. Furthermore, 54% (32/59) of the patients clicked on the fotonovela and responded that they loved it, and 36% (21/59) of patients responded that they liked it. The intervention group was more likely to get screened (487/2597, 18.75%) than those in usual care (308/2644, 11.65%; P<.001), and this pattern held, regardless of demographic subgroup (sex, age, screening history, preferred language, and payer type). Interview data (n=16) indicated that the text messages, navigator calls, and fotonovelas were well received and not unduly invasive. Interviewees noted several important barriers to CRC screening and offered suggestions for reducing barriers and increasing screening. CONCLUSIONS: Texting using NLU and fotonovela is valuable in increasing CRC screening as observed by the FIT return rate for patients in the intervention group. There were patterns in which patients did not engage bidirectionally; future work should investigate how to ensure that populations are not left out of screening campaigns.

Mobile Fotonovelas Within a Text Message Outreach: An Innovative Tool to Build Health Literacy and Influence Behaviors in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

With all 50 US states reporting cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), people around the country are adapting and stepping up to the challenges of the pandemic; however, they are also frightened, anxious, and confused about what they can do to avoid exposure to the disease. Usual habits have been interrupted as a result of the crisis, and consumers are open to suggestions and strategies to help them change long-standing attitudes and behaviors. In response, a novel and innovative mobile communication capability was developed to present health messages in English and Spanish with links to fotonovelas (visual stories) that are accessible, easy to understand across literacy levels, and compelling to a diverse audience. While SMS text message outreach has been used to build health literacy and provide social support, few studies have explored the benefits of SMS text messaging combined with visual stories to influence health behaviors and build knowledge and self-efficacy. In particular, this approach can be used to provide vital information, resources, empathy, and support to the most vulnerable populations. This also allows providers and health plans to quickly reach out to their patients and members without any additional resource demands at a time when the health care system is severely overburdened.

Impact of Social Determinants of Health and Demographics on Refill Requests by Medicare Patients Using a Conversational Artificial Intelligence Text Messaging Solution: Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence among patients with chronic disease continues to be a significant concern, and the use of text message refill reminders has been effective in improving adherence. However, questions remain about how differences in patient characteristics and demographics might influence the likelihood of refill using this channel. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an SMS-based refill reminder solution using conversational artificial intelligence (AI; an automated system that mimics human conversations) with a large Medicare patient population and to explore the association and impact of patient demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, language) and social determinants of health on successful engagement with the solution to improve refill adherence. METHODS: The study targeted 99,217 patients with chronic disease, median age of 71 years, for medication refill using the mPulse Mobile interactive SMS text messaging solution from December 2016 to February 2019. All patients were partially adherent or nonadherent Medicare Part D members of Kaiser Permanente, Southern California, a large integrated health plan. Patients received SMS reminders in English or Spanish and used simple numeric or text responses to validate their identity, view their medication, and complete a refill request. The refill requests were processed by Kaiser Permanente pharmacists and support staff, and refills were picked up at the pharmacy or mailed to patients. Descriptive statistics and predictive analytics were used to examine the patient population and their refill behavior. Qualitative text analysis was used to evaluate quality of conversational AI. RESULTS: Over the course of the study, 273,356 refill reminders requests were sent to 99,217 patients, resulting in 47,552 refill requests (17.40%). This was consistent with earlier pilot study findings. Of those who requested a refill, 54.81% (26,062/47,552) did so within 2 hours of the reminder. There was a strong inverse relationship (r10=-0.93) between social determinants of health and refill requests. Spanish speakers (5149/48,156, 10.69%) had significantly lower refill request rates compared with English speakers (42,389/225,060, 18.83%; X21 [n=273,216]=1829.2; P<.001). There were also significantly different rates of refill requests by age band (X26 [n=268,793]=1460.3; P<.001), with younger patients requesting refills at a higher rate. Finally, the vast majority (284,598/307,484, 92.23%) of patient responses were handled using conversational AI. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple factors impacted refill request rates, including a strong association between social determinants of health and refill rates. The findings suggest that higher refill requests are linked to language, race/ethnicity, age, and social determinants of health, and that English speakers, whites, those younger than 75 years, and those with lower social determinants of health barriers are significantly more likely to request a refill via SMS. A neural network-based predictive model with an accuracy level of 78% was used to identify patients who might benefit from additional outreach to narrow identified gaps based on demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Improving Refill Adherence in Medicare Patients With Tailored and Interactive Mobile Text Messaging: Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence is a major concern in the management of chronic conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes where patients may discontinue or interrupt their medication for a variety of reasons. Text message reminders have been used to improve adherence. However, few programs or studies have explored the benefits of text messaging with older populations and at scale. In this paper, we present a program design using tailored and interactive text messaging to improve refill rates of partially adherent or nonadherent Medicare members of a large integrated health plan. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this 3-month program was to gain an understanding of whether tailored interactive text message dialogues could be used to improve medication refills in Medicare patients with one or more chronic diseases. METHODS: We used the mPulse Mobile interactive text messaging solution with partially adherent and nonadherent Medicare patients (ie, over age 65 years or younger with disabilities) of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KP), a large integrated health plan, and compared refill rates of the text messaging group (n=12,272) to a group of partially adherent or nonadherent Medicare patients at KP who did not receive text messages (nontext messaging group, n=76,068). Both groups were exposed to other forms of refill and adherence outreach including phone calls, secure emails, and robo-calls from December 2016 to February 2017. RESULTS: The text messaging group and nontext messaging group were compared using an independent samples t test to test difference in group average of refill rates. There was a significant difference in medication refill rates between the 2 groups, with a 14.07 percentage points higher refill rate in the text messaging group (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a strong benefit of using this text messaging solution to improve medication refill rates among Medicare patients. These findings also support using interactive text messaging as a cost-effective, convenient, and user-friendly solution for patient engagement. Program outcomes and insights can be used to enhance the design of future text-based solutions to improve health outcomes and promote adherence and long-term behavior change.