Flu vaccine reminders more effective when send via text message

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Text message reminders increased the number of children receiving the second dose of influenza vaccine as well as how quickly youngsters were brought in to be vaccinated, researchers from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health report in a new study.
Dr. Melissa Stockwell, an assistant professor of population and family health, and her colleagues also found that including educational information on the importance of the second dose increased the effectiveness compared to messages that only informed families where to go and when.
The randomized controlled trial, the results of which are currently available online in the journal Pediatrics, was conducted during the 2012-2013 flu season at three pediatric clinics in the New York area. Children in 660 families between the ages of six months and eight years, all of who were in need of a second dose of influenza vaccine, participated in the intervention.
According to the university, most of the families involved were Latino and publicly insured, and nearly 72 percent of them believed that their children were at least partially protected from the flu virus after the first dose. All of the families had a cell phone with texting capabilities, and all of them were given a written reminder following the child’s first dose of vaccine.
The families were randomly assigned into three groups: one receiving educational text messages, one receiving conventional text messages, and one receiving only the original written reminder. Children in the educational text message group were significantly more likely to receive a second dose (72.7 percent) than the conventional text (66.7 percent) and no-text (57.1 percent) groups.
“Text message programs like these allow for healthcare providers to care for their patients even when they are not in front of them in the office, somewhat like a modern day house call,” said Stockwell, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center.
Parents reported liking the texts, telling the researchers that the messages were helpful as a reminder, provided important information quickly and without requiring direct communication with anyone, and indicated that someone at the medical facility “cared.”
Over 60 percent said that the reminder was at least part of the reason that they brought their child in for a second dose, and over 70 percent of them said that it encouraged them to bring their sons and/or daughters in sooner. They also said that they would recommend the program to other parents, the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute-funded study revealed.
“Influenza vaccine coverage overall is low among young children and those in need of two doses in a given season are at particular risk, with less than half of those who receive the first dose returning to receive the second needed doses,” the university explained.
Dr. Stockwell compared this to wearing half of a bicycle helmet, and stressed that the timing of the second vaccine was also important. Many youngsters who need two doses are not fully protected against the flu until two weeks after receiving the second, she said, and the interval between doses often goes beyond the recommended 28-day period.
Previous research has found that similar mail or telephone-based campaigns were not effective among urban, low-income families that are also at high risk for under-vaccination. Dr. Stockwell and her colleagues had previously found that text messaging reminders for first dose flu vaccine rates in pediatric and adolescent patients were effective.
“This randomized controlled trial provides valuable information for establishing best practices for influenza vaccine text message reminders. Important next steps will be to assess the impact of text message vaccine reminders in other populations as well as for other vaccines,” she added.
—–