Raising cervical cancer awareness: Analysing the incremental efficacy of Short Message Service

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the incremental efficacy of a Short Message Service (SMS) combined with a brief video intervention in increasing the effects of a health education intervention for cervical cancer prevention, over and beyond a video-alone intervention, with respect to key determinants of health behaviour change – knowledge, motivation and intention. Methodology: Quasi-experimental study design, comparing three conditions – control group, video intervention group and SMS + video intervention group. Participants were 144 Portuguese female college students allocated into one of the three experimental conditions. The effects of the health education interventions were assessed using a theoretically based multidimensional cancer prevention questionnaire. Data were collected at baseline and post-test. Results: Interventions significantly increased the key predictors of adhesion to cancer preventive behaviours. SMS contributed to increases in the expected directions. Evidence of the superiority in efficacy of the combined intervention (SMS + video) over the video-alone intervention was found for cervical cancer screening. Interventions were not as effective in improving intentions and more complex preventive practices such as sexual behaviour as they were in improving knowledge. Conclusion: Results are encouraging in that cervical cancer prevention knowledge and motivation appear modifiable via a one-session video preventive intervention. If, however, the development of intentions is an important predictor of effective behaviour change, study findings point to the added importance of an SMS-based strategy for improving specific cancer preventive behaviours. Findings reinforce the need for specific and tailored health education interventions according to the various determinants of behaviour change, as well as to the particular target behaviour with respect to cervical cancer prevention.

Social Media and mHealth Technology for Cancer Screening: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The interventions were implemented by public or private screening programs, university-based research teams, or health care centers or units. The most common reminder strategies used were text message reminders [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][41][42][43][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. Educational strategies most commonly included general health information about the specific cancer and information about cancer screening, including the importance of screening.…”

“…Outcomes were measured at several time points, including the proportion attending a scheduled appointment or those participating in screening within 2 weeks [52], a month [65], 45 There was wide variability in the study participants. For example, the included participants were targeted based on geographical region in some studies [34,51,56] or by their profession as elementary school teachers [37], entrepreneurs [63], or university students [49,59]. Some studies were targeted to specific racial and cultural groups [44,46,54,58,67], whereas others included gay and bisexual men only [48] or women who were HIV positive [60].…”

“…Educational strategies most commonly included general health information about the specific cancer and information about cancer screening, including the importance of screening. Although text messages were commonly used to deliver educational information [ 34 , 35 , 37 , 42 - 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 53 - 55 , 59 , 62 , 64 , 65 ], some studies also used electronic posters or infographics, CDs, videos, mobile apps, and podcasts [ 37 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 55 , 59 , 63 ]. Education was also provided through in-person educational or training sessions in some cases in addition to a social media or mHealth strategy or in the comparison groups [ 55 , 63 ].…”

“…There was minor variability in the measurement of screening intention among the studies. For example, screening intention was treated as a dichotomous variable in some studies [ 37 , 45 , 54 , 58 ] or scored using a four-point [ 44 ] or five-point [ 59 ] Likert scale in others. Half of the studies (3/6, 50%) focused on cervical cancer, followed by breast cancer (2/6, 33%) and CRC (1/6, 17%).…”

Diseño y validación de un video educativo para la prevención del VPH

“…Con base en lo anterior, se hace evidente el hecho de que los conocimientos sobre esta infección juegan un papel importante sobre la forma en que las personas podrían asumir la responsabilidad de su vida sexual. Es por ello que diversas investigaciones han demostrado que fomentar en jóvenes y adolescentes el conocimiento acerca del VPH, tanto en la promoción y prevención, a través de recursos audiovisuales educativos (videos), que reflejen situaciones reales, en la que un grupo de jóvenes aprenden a reducir el riesgo de padecer infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), resultan favorables para modificar: mitos, creencias y formas de conductas que hayan influido en su formación y así contribuir a que en su etapa de adultos manifiesten autorresponsabilidad en el cuidado de su salud sexual (12) , mediante el desarrollo de habilidades conductuales especificas como la realización de pruebas de detección de VPH, uso y negociación del condón, así como el convencimiento de la vacunación en grupos vulnerables (13)(14)(15) . Es aquí, que resulta relevante el diseño y validación de videos educativos con una base teórica, que permita comprender y provocar cambios en el comportamiento de la salud.…”