Text message reminders to improve outpatient therapy attendance among adolescents: A pilot study.

Abstract

High rates of missed appointments and attrition are common barriers to treatment for adolescents attending outpatient mental health treatment. Such figures indicate a need for innovative strategies to engage youth in treatment. The current quasi-experimental pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of text message (TM) appointment reminders to improve attendance in a sample of 48 adolescents attending outpatient therapy. The sample was approximately 46% Latino and 40% African American with an equal number of males and females. Adolescents receiving TM reminders demonstrated significantly higher rates of attendance (65%) than a historical control group (49%) (p < .05). Participants in the TM group received reminders for the majority (88%) of their scheduled sessions with only 4% of reminders not received due to phone-related problems. Additionally, TM reminders received high patient satisfaction ratings. Findings from the present study suggest that TM reminders may be a cost-effective and developmentally appropriate strategy for engaging adolescents in treatment.

Text Message Reminders Increase Appointment Adherence in a Pediatric Clinic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Based on our pilot survey, where 33.8% of parents reported to have forgotten their scheduled visit, the text messages could serve as a valuable prompt for keeping the scheduled appointment. This is consistent with previous literature demonstrating the utility of text message appointment reminders on different patient populations [3, 4]. …”

“…The scope of research on text message studies is broad and continues to expand. Studies have been done in various subspecialty areas spanning from dental clinics to endoscopy clinics, and the outcomes studied include appointment adherence [4], medication adherence [5], vaccination rates [6], and chronic disease care [7]. Many of the results have been positive.…”

“…Many of the results have been positive. For example, text messages improved attendance in adolescents attending outpatient mental health treatment [4]. A systematic review also showed that text messages improved patients' medication adherence, especially in those with chronic diseases such as HIV, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease [5].…”

Adolescents and the Internet: What Mental Health Clinicians Need to Know

“…Logistical applications include mobile phone short message service (SMS) reminders for appointments [69]; online communication through protected email portals and texting interfaces; and websites, blogs and social media sites for practice information and psychoeducation. Clinical applications include a variety of clinical assessments and interventions.…”

Implementation of clinical research trials using web-based and mobile devices: challenges and solutions

“…The various uses of internet and mobile technology include: health information systems in hospitals; outpatient monitoring, such as wearable telemetry systems (Body Scan Networks) that measure physiological changes in patients with chronic illnesses [1, 2]; telecommunication between patients and healthcare professionals, such as tele-counselling and text reminders for mental health patients [3–5]; and data management systems for clinical research studies [6]. There are many benefits of web-based and mobile technologies, including continuous monitoring for chronically ill patients, better quality care and feedback, reduced hospitalization time, increased medical capacity, and reduced medical cost [1, 2, 7].…”