Coverage and Acceptability of Mobile Phone Messages for Cancer Prevention: a Population-Based Study in a Latin American
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Coverage and Acceptability of Mobile Phone Messages for Cancer Prevention: a Population-Based Study in a Latin American Country Raúl Murillo 1,2,3,4 & Camila Ordóñez-Reyes 1 Joachim Schüz 6 & Carolina Espina 6
&
María Caicedo-Martínez 1
&
Sandra Paola Vargas 1 & Elsa Ariza 5 &
Accepted: 27 October 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Mobile health (m-health) has shown positive effects on disease prevention; however, several factors might influence its effectiveness, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Randomized trials provide data with high internal validity but no major information on population impact. We conducted a pilot population-based study to assess the feasibility of cancer prevention through m-health in a Latin American population. A sample of affiliates to a health insurance company in Colombia was randomly selected and assigned to receive a short message service (SMS) or voice messages (VMS) during 4 weeks; weekly frequencies 2 and 7. Baseline and post-intervention surveys were conducted. Overall, 797 affiliates were contacted (SMS 393, VMS 404) but only 15.3% and 24.8% enrolled, respectively. Over 80% acceptability was observed among participants for all items evaluated (usefulness, understandability, timing, and frequency); however, 2-VMS per week was the only frequency consistent with the declared number of messages received and listened. Other frequencies resulted in high reception recall but low willingness to read/listen the messages. The willingness to be part of future programs was 20.0%. The gap between declared acceptability and practice, low participation rates, and low willingness to read/listen messages indicate mhealth should be part of multicomponent interventions and should not be conceived as the sole intervention. Keywords Cancer prevention . Health communication . Cell phones . Latin America . m-health . Neoplasms . Colombia
Introduction Almost seven and a half billion people (98% of the total world population) currently live in areas covered by mobile phone networks, where broadband (3G or higher) reaches 94% of the population [1]. Mobile phones have become the most accessible form of communication in history, with more than eight billion mobile phone subscribers around the world in 2019,
more than one billion in the Americas region [1], and mobile technology being the fastest growing communication industry in low- and middle-income countries [2]. The short message service (SMS) is the most used mobile interpersonal communication channel with about 75% of mobile phone users [3]. m-health (mobile health) and particularly multifaceted mobile technology messaging interventions have shown positive effects on different health outcomes such as
* Raúl Murillo [email protected]
Carolina Espina [email protected]
Camila Ordóñez-Reyes [email protected]
1
Centro Javeriano de Oncología, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia
María Caicedo-Martínez [email protected]
2
Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombi
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