Evaluation of SMS-intervention in patients with diabetes on disease perception and treatment compliance

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, as in all health branches, health communication technologies are used in diabetes to develop positive health behaviors and the self-efficacy of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of SMS-intervention on disease perception, health behavior, and improvement initiatives for treatment compliance in diabetic patients. Methods: This intervention type study was conducted at Afyon Kocatepe University, Ahmet Necdet Sezer Research and Application Hospital in Turkey. Diabetic patients (n=136) were randomly assigned to three groups. These were “Control”, “Reminder”, “Information and Motivation”. The “Reminder” and “Information and Motivation” groups received regular SMS for one year. Results: In our study, there was a significant increase for health beliefs and treatment compliance in “Reminder” and “Information and Motivation” groups after the intervention. However, there was no significant difference in “Control” group. The SMS sent to diabetes patients positively affected their health belief and treatment compliance. Especially in the “Information and Motivation” group, differences were found in all parameters of the Health Belief Model Scale. Conclusions: SMS interventions are easy and effective interventions that can be used to improve positive health behaviors and positive health perception in individuals. Such interventions, especially for common diseases such as diabetes, will make a significant contribution to the control and treatment of the disease.