Frequently repeated measurements -our experience of collecting data with SMS

Abstract

Background: As technology is advancing, so are the possibilities for new data collection methods in research, potentially improving data quality and validity of the results. In Sweden, a system using frequent repeated data collection using text messages, SMS Track, has been used in clinical research for more than a decade. In this paper, compliance with repeated text message questions was examined across five different studies, i.e. if compliance was 1: associated with study-specific factors (age or gender of the subjects, the condition, its' severity or course, i.e. improvement, relapse or steady state) and/or. 2: associated with the methodology itself (the question being asked, the frequency and number of questions, duration of data collection, initial compliance or the management of the system). Methods: Descriptive comparisons were done across five studies. Three studies were collecting weekly responses over at least 52 weeks ("Weekly studies") and were used to investigate the effect of age, sex and pain severity on compliance, the effect of early compliance for late compliance, and finally the early occurrence of two successive weeks with non-compliance. Result: Compliance was excellent across all five studies, and only influenced somewhat by age, sex and pain-level. The factor "study" remained significant in the final model thus the observed differences may be a result of the conditions studied but does not seem to be attributable to severity or development of these conditions. Number and frequency of questions did not influence compliance, nor did study duration. Conclusions: Compliance was excellent in the included studies and was not affected by population factors. However, differences in compliance were observed that cannot be easily explained and warrant further investigation. In particular, the nature of the variables or the management of the study are potential areas for further investigations.

Factors Associated With Clinical Responses to Spinal Manipulation in Patients With Non-specific Thoracic Back Pain: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…Non-specific thoracic spine pain intensity was assessed using a 0–10 point Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) ( 33 ). It was also assessed every day for 7 days following the intervention using a web-based platform (SMS-FACTOR, Infomotiv SASU, France) ( 34 ). Patients answered the following question: “Did you experience any thoracic pain today?” If they answered positively, a second question was sent: “On a 0 to 10 scale, 0 being no pain and 10 being severe pain, how much would you rate this pain today?” and a call was made for any pain above pain at baseline to list any adverse event (such as muscle soreness, increase of pain, stiffness).…”

“…Non-specific thoracic spine pain intensity was assessed using a 0-10 point Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (33). It was also assessed every day for 7 days following the intervention using a web-based platform (SMS-FACTOR, Infomotiv SASU, France) (34). Patients answered the following question: "Did you experience any thoracic pain today?"…”

Synthesis of evidence on the use of ecological momentary assessments to monitor health outcomes after traumatic injury: rapid systematic review

“…Conducting follow-up studies of injured individuals post-discharge is not without challenges, such as participant retention [19] and compliance with data collection protocols [56]. EMA studies have generally shown good retention [35,42] and participant compliance with data collection prompts [52]. However, this review has identified several potential barriers to EMA use, including the acknowledged behaviour-altering effects associated with social desirability bias and the Hawthorne Effect [20,47].…”

“…In general, compliance with data collection in prospective studies that have used EMAs has been reported as high [52], and that EMAs can reduce recall bias through using real-time data collection [23,34,47]. While participant responses using EMAs are considered to be more reliable than retrospective studies [22,31,48], several study authors did identify as a potential barrier the reliability of information from participants obtained using EMAs [20,23,27,37,42,46,47].…”

Are psychosocial work factors and work-home interference associated with time to first full return-to-work after sick leave due to common mental disorders?

“…A strength of the study was the longitudinal design and the follow-up by repeated text messages. Although self-reported sick leave outcomes entail a risk of bias, text messaging has demonstrated high compliance (Axén et al 2020 ), and the response rate was 90.2%. Another strength was the use of measures validated in a Scandinavian setting (Berthelsen et al 2020 ; Sanne et al 2005 ; Wännström et al 2009 ).…”