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Text messages to increase attendance to follow-up cervical cancer screening appointments among HPV-positive Tanzanian women (Connected2Care): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT: Cervical cancer is a major health concern in Tanzania, caused by poor attendance for cervical cancer screening and follow-up of women at risk. Mobile telephone health interventions are proven effective tools to improve health behaviour in African countries. So far, no knowledge exists on how such interventions may perform in relation to cervical cancer screening in low-income settings. This study aims to assess the degree to which a Short Message Service (SMS) intervention can increase attendance at appointments among women who have tested positive for high-risk (HR) Human Papillomavirus (HPV) during cervical cancer screening.Connected2Care is a non-blinded, multicentre, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial. Tanzanian women testing positive to HR HPV at inclusion are randomly assigned in an allocation ratio of 1:1 to the SMS intervention or the control group (standard care). In a period of 10 months, the intervention group will receive 15 one-directional health educative text messages and SMS reminders for their appointment. The total sample size will be 700 with 350 women in each study arm. Primary outcome is attendance rate for follow-up. Secondary objectives are cost-effectiveness, measured through incremental ratios, and knowledge of cervical cancer by a 16-item true/false scale questionnaire at baseline and follow-up. Barriers against implementing the intervention will be assessed in a mixed-methods sub-population study.This study may provide information on the potential effects, costs, and barriers in implementing an SMS intervention targeting a group of women who are followed up after testing positive for HR HPV and are, therefore, at increased risk of developing cervical cancer. This can guide decision-makers on the effective use of mobile technology in a low-income setting. Trial status: recruiting.ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT02509702 . Registered on 15 June 2015.

SUBMITTER: Linde DS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5698928 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Text messages to increase attendance to follow-up cervical cancer screening appointments among HPV-positive Tanzanian women (Connected2Care): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Linde Ditte S DS Andersen Marianne S MS Mwaiselage Julius D JD Manongi Rachel R Kjaer Susanne K SK Rasch Vibeke V

Trials 20171121 1

<h4>Background</h4>Cervical cancer is a major health concern in Tanzania, caused by poor attendance for cervical cancer screening and follow-up of women at risk. Mobile telephone health interventions are proven effective tools to improve health behaviour in African countries. So far, no knowledge exists on how such interventions may perform in relation to cervical cancer screening in low-income settings. This study aims to assess the degree to which a Short Message Service (SMS) intervention can ...[more]

PMID: 29162148

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Rapid human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is an emerging cervical cancer screening strategy in resource-limited countries, yet it requires follow-up of women who test HPV positive. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to determine if one-way text messages improved attendance to a 14-month follow-up cervical cancer screening among HPV-positive women. METHODS:This multicenter, parallel-group randomized controlled trial was conducted at 3 hospitals in Tanzania. Eligible participants were aged between 25 and 60 years, had tested positive to a rapid HPV test during a patient-initiated screening, had been informed of their HPV result, and had a private mobile phone with a valid number. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention or control group through an incorporated algorithm in the text message system. The intervention group received one-way text messages, and the control group received no text messages. The primary outcome was attendance at a 14-month health provider-initiated follow-up screening. Participants were not blinded, but outcome assessors were. The analysis was based on intention to treat. RESULTS:Between August 2015 and July 2017, 4080 women were screened for cervical cancer, of which 705 were included in this trial-358 women were allocated to the intervention group, and 347 women were allocated to the control group. Moreover, 16 women were excluded before the analysis because they developed cervical cancer or died (8 from each group). In the intervention group, 24.0% (84/350) women attended their follow-up screening, and in the control group, 23.8% (80/335) women attended their follow-up screening (risk ratio 1.02, 95% CI 0.79-1.33). CONCLUSIONS:Attendance to a health provider-initiated follow-up cervical cancer screening among HPV-positive women was strikingly low, and one-way text messages did not improve the attendance rate. Implementation of rapid HPV testing as a primary screening method at the clinic level entails the challenge of ensuring a proper follow-up of women. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02509702; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02509702. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID):RR2-10.2196/10.2196/15863.

Project description:BackgroundThe clinical follow-up of patients for degeneration of the supraspinatus tendon is limited by the lack of objective assessment of pain evolution over time. We therefore tested a new method to collect follow-up data on patients treated either by surgical cuff repair or rehabilitation.ObjectivesWe report the feasibility this method in terms of recruitment of clinicians and patients and their compliance.MethodsIn this multicenter longitudinal observational study, between September 2015 and March 2019, patients consulting either for surgical repair or rehabilitation were examined at baseline and after twelve months by their clinician, including the Mini-DASH questionnaire. Fortnightlys, during one year, patients were asked about number of days their shoulder problem affected their daily life, number of nights woken up from shoulder pain, and present pain score, using text-messages for sending and responding to questions. A system administrator supervised responses and non-compliant subjects were contacted and assisted with the procedure. The CONSORT statement for pilot studies was followed.ResultsFour of 11 invited clinicians accepted participation and collected data till the end. Of the 410 patients we originally planned for, 252 were included in the study, but complete data for the clinicians' follow-up at 12 months were missing for 30. Of the 222 subjects with SMS data files, 190 (85%) provided at least 80% of their fortnightly messages. All three SMS messages were answered equally often. In total, 160 study subjects answered at least 80% of times and had clinical data at twelve months, i.e. 39% of the intended study sample and 72% of the 222 subjects with SMS data.ConclusionThe most important difficulty of this study was the enrolment and compliance of clinicians. The collection of SMS data was less successful than in previous studies, but French people accepted well this new method which is much easier and specific than collecting data through clinical records. The quality of the SMS data was acceptable. However, because of the limited number of complete datasets, only a limited number of questions from the original study protocol can be answered.

Project description:BackgroundHealth care operations managers need to balance scheduling frequent follow-ups for patients with chronic conditions and fitting in patients requiring care for new complaints.ObjectiveWe quantify how frequency of follow-up visits corresponds with access to care for patients receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).DesignWe use patient data collected between October 2013 and June 2016 by the Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP). Our sample is comprised of 94,496 patients. We estimate logistic models with 1-month lagged facility-level predictors.Main measuresWe calculate monthly measures characterizing facility-level service provision, including the average time between successive primary care visits, the average primary care visit length, the percentage of primary care appointments that are overbooked, the percent of visits that are unscheduled (i.e., walk-ins), and the ratio of patients to providers. We control for economic factors that are associated with health care supply and demand, including median household income, veteran priority status, the Zillow Housing Price Index, and veteran unemployment rates. We also control for patient demographics.PatientsWe restrict the data to patients with at least one in-person primary care visit who have provided information on their ability to access urgent and routine care.Key resultsWe find that shorter average follow-up times are associated with better access for patients needing urgent or routine care. A 1-month increase in the average time between successive primary care visits is associated with 10% (p < 0.001) lower odds of reporting being able to access urgent care within 1 day and 13% (p < 0.001) lower odds of reporting usually or always being able to access routine care when needed.ConclusionFacilities with higher average follow-up times are more likely to have patients report that they are unable to quickly access urgent or routine primary care.

Project description:BackgroundA text messaging service (short message service [SMS]) has the potential to target large groups of people with long-term illnesses such as serious mental disorders, who may have difficulty with treatment adherence. Robust research on the impact of mobile technology interventions for these patients remains scarce.ObjectiveThe main objective of our study was to investigate the impact of individually tailored short text messages on the rate of psychiatric hospital readmissions, health care service use, and clinical outcomes. In addition, we analyzed treatment costs.MethodsBetween September 2011 and November 2012, we randomly assigned 1139 people to a tailored text message intervention (n=569) or usual care (n=570). Participants received semiautomated text messages for up to 12 months or usual care. The primary outcome, based on routinely collected health register data, was patient readmission into a psychiatric hospital during a 12-month follow-up period. Secondary outcomes were related to other service use, coercion, medication, adverse events, satisfaction, social functioning, quality of life, and economic factors (cost analysis).ResultsThere was 98.24% (1119/1139) follow-up at 12 months. Tailored mobile telephone text messages did not reduce the rate of hospital admissions (242/563, 43.0% of the SMS group vs 216/556, 38.8% of the control group; relative risk 1.11; 95% CI 0.92-1.33; P=.28), time between hospitalizations (mean difference 7.0 days 95% CI -8.0 to 24.0; P=.37), time spent in a psychiatric hospital during the year (mean difference 2.0 days 95% CI -2.0 to 7.0; P=.35), or other service outcomes. People who received text messages were less disabled, based on Global Assessment Scale scores at the time of their readmission, than those who did not receive text messages (odds ratio 0.68; 95% CI 0.47-0.97; P=.04). The costs of treatment were higher for people in the SMS group than in the control group (mean €10,103 vs €9210, respectively, P<.001).ConclusionsHigh-grade routinely collected data can provide clear outcomes for pragmatic randomized trials. SMS messaging tailored with the input of each individual patient did not decrease the rate of psychiatric hospital visits after the 12 months of follow-up. Although there may have been other, more subtle effects, the results of these were not evident in outcomes of agreed importance to clinicians, policymakers, and patients and their families.Trial registrationInternational Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 27704027; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN27704027 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6rVzZrbuz).

Dataset Information

Text messages to increase attendance to follow-up cervical cancer screening appointments among HPV-positive Tanzanian women (Connected2Care): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

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Text messages to increase attendance to follow-up cervical cancer screening appointments among HPV-positive Tanzanian women (Connected2Care): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

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