Perception that Mothers and / or Guardians of Overweight or Obese Preschool Children Have of a Text Messaging Program to Support Behaviour Change in their Children

Abstract

In most childhood obesity preventive programs, parents are targeted as they are key in achieving lifestyle behavior change in their children. Because their participation is generally low, new technologies, such as text messaging, are being tested to assess if their participation increases. The objective of this study was to determine the perception that mothers of overweight/ obese preschool children have of a textmessaging program developed to support their children’s lifestyle behavior change. Text messages were sent to 60 mothers twice a week for 12 weeks; 58 of them said they received all of them. During the process mothers were contacted twice regarding their opinion on all aspects related to the messages. At follow-up, we determined perception by in depth interviews administered to participants. Results show that text messaging implemented in a personalized manner was considered successful in regards to providing useful information to support their children’s behavior change.

Use of Text Messaging to Help Family Caregivers

“…Parra-Soto et al 29 conducted a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental, and qualitative study to examine mothers' opinions of receiving WhatsApp text messages encouraging healthy food and physical activities for their overweight/obese preschoolers. Mothers viewed text messages as a means of support for ensuring that positive behaviors were practiced in order to promote healthier lifestyles for their children 29 . Likewise, one-way text messages were sent to parents of children with ADHD using WhatsApp messenger to help them improve their child's behavior 28 .…”

“…Over half of studies (56.25%) consistently indicated that parents perceived texting as useful for disease management. 24,25,[29][30][31][32]35,37,38 Among the studies reviewed, 56.25% examined the effectiveness of text message-based interventions on child health outcomes. Several studies 24,25,33,34,36,39 showed that text messaging was effective for child health outcome variables such as generic-and sickle cell-specific child HrQL, vaccine reception, clinic attendance, BMI, duration of physical activity and sedentary behavior, missed vaccination opportunity, and asthma symptom-free days.…”

“…The majority of studies indicate that text message-based interventions are feasible and acceptable. [24][25][26][27][29][30][31][32]35,38 Feasibility and acceptability were demonstrated through high study enrollment and retention rates, high participation rates, and high levels of participant satisfaction with receiving text messages.…”

“…Mothers viewed text messages as a means of support for ensuring that positive behaviors were practiced in order to promote healthier lifestyles for their children. 29 Likewise, one-way text messages were sent to parents of children with ADHD using WhatsApp messenger to help them improve their child's behavior. 28 The findings, however, were mixed.…”

“…Half of the studies (n = 8) sent text messages to parents of children with chronic diseases using cellular network-based short message service. The other half (n = 8) sent text messages using third-party platforms, including Google Voice, 24 Provement, 25 Mobile Commons, 26,27 WhatsApp, 28,29 EpxAutism, 30 and Assessing Confidence at Times of Increased Vulnerability. 31 Some of these platforms were commercially available, and others were developed by the research team.…”