The Use of Mobile Apps and SMS Messaging as Physical and Mental Health Interventions: Systematic Review.

A method for efficient short messages transmission in cellular networks is developed in this study. The number of short message service (SMS) messages is growing very rapidly, and existing cellular networks have to support a large number of SMS and signaling messages. The rate of SMS messages has already exceeded the rate of E-mail messages transmitted through the Internet, and their number keeps growing. SMS messages are characterized by a burst of a short, single packet message. Unfortunately, the protocols currently used by existing cellular networks cannot support this type of traffic efficiently. For this reason, SMS messages are currently transmitted through the signaling channel. Clearly, this usage of the signaling channel is far from being optimal, in terms of network resources utilization. Under certain conditions, it may even block the signaling channel. This study proposes to use a load-adaptive multiple access with congestion avoidance (LAMA/CA) for efficient short messages transmission in cellular networks. The LAMA/CA protocol is more stable, and much more efficient for transmitting SMS messages and signaling messages, than the existing method currently used in cellular networks. Moreover, the proposed method is superior to a collision-free protocol that uses a request to send (RTS) and clear to send (CTS) mechanism, over the range of packet lengths used for SMS messages and signaling messages.

Objectives: This study is aimed to develop a text preprocessing technique for mixed Bisaya and English short message service (SMS) messages. This technique is used to extract significant keywords for SMS message clustering procedure as the basis for SMS automated response on Higher Education Institution (HEI)’s enrollmentrelated inquiries. Methods/statistical analysis: In this study, a text clustering preprocessing technique is introduced and developed for mixed Bisaya and English SMS messages for Higher Education Institution (HEI) enrollment-related inquiries. The technique is a relatively new approach to extract significant keywords while addressing key challenges in morphological complexities on mixed Bisaya and English SMS messages. The method has seven (7) stages namely: tokenization, language tagging, stop-word removal, stemming, Soundex, final-tagging, and language translation. The term frequency co-occurrence clustering approach is applied to evaluate the precision and effectiveness of the text preprocessing technique. Findings: Test results revealed that the method produces a good preprocessing procedure with approximately 73%–83% accuracy rate on text processing and 87%–90% accuracy rate when text preprocessing is applied to clustering. Application/ improvements: The results of this study may assist academic institutions in maximizing the opportunity to effectively entertain more enrollment-related inquiries via SMS as an alternative communication medium to its target market. This also promotes technological advancement for the institution as it utilizes an ICTenhanced marketing approach through mobile technology. Keywords: Text Preprocessing, Text Clustering, SMS Messaging, Stemming Algorithm, Enrollment-related Inquiries.

Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) are popularly used and will be more popular in the future. However, the security of SMS and MMS messages is still a problem. There is no end-to-end security (including integrity, confidentiality, authentication, and non- repudiation) in these services. This hinders service providers to provide some services that require communication of high-level security. There have been some solutions proposed for this issue in literature, but these are not suitable for user-to-user communication. In this paper, we review existing solutions and analyze their weaknesses. We then propose a new solution for a secure messaging channel using identity-based cryptography. This solution provides end-to-end security from service provider to mobile users, and between mobile users. The advantage of this solution is that it does not require a large storage on mobile terminal side, which is especially essential for user-to-user communication. Also this solution can be implemented with existing technologies on both service provider side and mobile terminal side. We concentrate the discussion on SMS service in details, while the scheme also works for MMS service.

Feasibility and acceptability of short message service (SMS) text messaging to support adherence in patients receiving quetiapine: A pilot study

Healthy behaviour, such as smoking cessation and adherence to prescribed medications, mitigates illness risk factors but health behaviour change can be challenging. Mobile phone short-message service (SMS) messages are increasingly used to deliver interventions designed to enhance healthy behaviour. This meta-analysis used a random-effects model to synthesise 38 randomised controlled trials that investigated the efficacy of SMS messages to enhance healthy behaviour. Participants (N = 19,641) lived in developed and developing countries and were diverse with respect to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic background and health behaviours targeted for change. SMS messages had a small, positive, significant effect (g = 0.291) on a broad range of healthy behaviour. This effect was maximised when multiple SMS messages per day were used (g = 0.395) compared to using lower frequencies (daily, multiple per week and once-off) (g = 0.244). The low heterogeneity in this meta-analysis (I2 = 38.619) supports reporting a summary effect size and implies that the effect of SMS messaging is robust, regardless of population characteristics or healthy behaviour targeted. SMS messaging is a simple, cost-effective intervention that can be automated and can reach any mobile phone owner. While the effect size is small, potential health benefits are well worth achieving.

We investigated how short messages communicating health information would best be distributed to people with vision difficulties using mobile phones. Twelve visually-impaired persons who were unable to read short message service (SMS) messages directly compared three methods of presenting text messages as speech: (1) ordinary SMS messages were sent to the users and converted into speech by the mobile phone; (2) multimedia messages were sent to the users with prerecorded speech-synthesized information; and (3) mobile phone calls were placed to the users and prerecorded speech-synthesized messages were streamed to them. The latter two approaches used server-generated sound files. Over a three-month trial period, we sent a total of 88 SMS messages to the subjects, 111 multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages and 104 telephone calls. All of the SMS messages, 88% of the MMS messages and 69% of the telephone calls were received. In subsequent interviews, we asked the users which presentation method they preferred. SMS scored significantly better than both MMS (P = 0.033) and telephones (P = 0.006). All three methods had serious drawbacks. However, the study suggests that it might be possible to develop suitable technology for communicating with people with vision difficulties by mobile phone.

Short Message Service (SMS) messaging is very popular, especially among teens. Because research has shown that SMS messaging while driving results in 35% slower reaction time than being intoxicated [7], campaigns have been launched by states, governments and even cell phone carriers to discourage and ban SMS users from messaging while driving [1]. At the same time, automobile automotive infotainment systems such as the Ford Sync [2] now provide drivers the ability to hear incoming messages using text-to-speech (TTS). But how should users respond to these messages while driving in a safe manner?Automatic speech recognition (ASR) affords automobile drivers a hands-free, eyes free method of replying to SMS messages. In [3], we examined three approaches to leveraging ASR for SMS replies: dictation using a language model trained on SMS responses, canned responses using a probabilistic context-free grammar (PCFG), and a approach based on template matching. Voice search proceeds in two steps [6]: an utterance is first converted into text, which is then used as a search query to match the most similar items of an index. For SMS replies, we created an index of SMS response templates, with slots for concepts such as time and place, from a large SMS data collection. After convolving recorded SMS replies so that the audio would exhibit the acoustic characteristics of in-car recognition, they compared how the three approaches handled the convolved audio with respect to the top n-best reply candidates. The voice search approach consistently outperformed dictation and canned responses, achieving as high as 89.7% task completion with respect to the top 5 reply candidates.Even if the voice search approach may be more robust to in-car noise, this does not guarantee that it will be more usable. Indeed, users may have difficulties verifying whether SMS response templates match their intended meaning, especially while driving. Using a high-fidelity driving simulator, in [4] we compared the voice search approach to the dictation approach in terms of both driving performance and task performance measures. Although the two approaches did not differ in terms of driving performance, users made five times more errors on average using dictation than voice search. Hence, verifying whether SMS response templates matched the meaning of an intended reply is much less prone to error than deciphering the sometimes nonsensical misrecognitions of dictation. And as prior research [5] has shown, because ASR errors with in-car speech interfaces negatively impacts driving performance, the safest way to respond to SMS messages in automobiles may just be the voice search approach.For MIAA, we will demonstrate a multimodal interface for SMS replies based on voice search, as shown in Figure 1.

Prevalence of perceived stress, symptoms of depression and sleep disturbances in relation to information and communication technology (ICT) use among young adults – an explorative prospective study

HIV serodiscordant couples are at heightened risk of HIV transmission when attempting to conceive, yet reproductive goals can outweigh concerns about HIV exposure. Safer conception strategies support fertility desires while minimizing HIV transmission risk and novel mHealth tools can optimize their use. The objective of this analysis is to examine the feasibility and usability of short message service (SMS) messages and a mobile application to support safer conception for HIV serodiscordant couples. We enrolled 74 heterosexual HIV serodiscordant couples with immediate pregnancy desires into a pilot safer conception intervention study in Thika, Kenya. Prior to pregnancy, women received daily 6-item SMS surveys to capture fertility indicators (e.g., menses, basal body temperature) and sexual behavior. The intervention also provided daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for the HIV-negative partner and in-depth counseling to accompany publicly-provided antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the HIV-infected partner. Couples attended monthly visits until pregnancy occurred. We measured PrEP use with medication event monitoring system (MEMS) caps and ART use via quarterly viral load quantification. We imported SMS, MEMS, and viral load data into an Android tablet application designed specifically for this setting for couples to view during clinic visits and included predictions of peak fertility days using SMS data. We used descriptive statistics to summarize SMS response data and developed a Google Analytics platform to monitor tablet application usage during follow-up. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 5 healthcare providers and 19 couples. Qualitative data were analyzed using a modified constant comparative approach to identify themes related to mHealth intervention feasibility and acceptability. In our sample, 34 (45.9%) couples had an HIV-infected female partner. The median age of the female partner was 30 years [interquartile range (IQR), 27-35 years], education was 10 years (IQR, 8-12 years), and partnership duration was 3 years (IQR, 2-7 years). Couples were followed for a median of 218 days (IQR, 116-348 days) prior to pregnancy. Participants completed 13,181 of 16,905 (78.0%) SMS surveys surveys sent with a median of 167 completed surveys (IQR, 74-299) per participant. Most participants completed at least 75% of the total SMS messages received (N=58; 77.3%). The tablet application was opened by counselors 1,806 times during the study period (March 2016 through April 2018). In qualitative interviews, the SMS messages were reportedly easy to respond to and "part of the daily routine". Few participants had concerns about message confidentiality. mHealth tools were also found to be acceptable for tracking fertility indicators and enhancing provider-patient communication. mHealth strategies are feasible to use and acceptable to support the delivery of safer conception intervention services among HIV serodiscordant couples in Kenya.

As a convenient and low-cost mobile communication technology, short messaging service (SMS) is experiencing very rapid growth. It is reported that 700 million mobile phone users worldwide sent 20 to 30 billion SMS messages every month in 2001. At the same time, SMS commerce applications have emerged to provide mobile users consumer-oriented services. The huge SMS messaging customer base serves as the potential SMS commerce customer base according to K. Kellett and A. Linde (2001) . However, the bloom in messaging business does not automatically lead to the success of general SMS commerce applications. In this paper, we analyzed SMS developments in three different countries to derive three success indicators for SMS messaging and relate them to the success of SMS commerce. Based on the proposed SMS application framework, we postulate four additional hypothesized success factors that could uniquely contribute to the success of SMS commerce. Our findings provide practical implications for promoting SMS commerce applications successfully.

Non-attendance at outpatient clinics is common and costly. This study aimed to determine if sending SMS ('short message service' or text message) reminders to patients before appointments reduced non-attendance. We collected outpatient data at Ballyfermot and Lucan Community Adult Mental Health Service, Dublin, Ireland during 6-month periods (a) immediately prior to the introduction of SMS reminders for outpatient appointments; (b) immediately following the introduction of SMS reminders; and (c) two and a half years later. In the 6-month period prior to SMS reminders, 2170 outpatient appointments were offered and there was a 22.2% non-attendance rate. In the 6-months following the introduction of SMS reminders, 2092 appointments were offered and the non-attendance rate fell to 13.9% (p < 0.001), with the lower non-attendance rate among those who did not receive SMS reminders (9.7%) rather than those who did (15.7%) (p = 0.0002). There were 98 appointment cancellations during this period (73% via SMS messaging). In the 6-month period two and a half years after the introduction of SMS reminders, 2474 appointments were offered and the non-attendance rate rose to 19.3%; this did not differ between those who received SMS reminders (19.3%) and those who did not (19.1%) (p = 0.38209) and was still lower than the rate prior to SMS reminders (p = 0.01321). During this period, 197 appointments were cancelled (75% via SMS messaging). The chief value of SMS reminders lies not in reminding patients of appointments but in providing a convenient way to cancel them, thus allowing more appointments to be offered.

As an open platform for mobile electronic devices, Android is experiencing a steady growth in the number of published applications (apps). Features of the Android platform have caught the attention of malicious users who have targeted the Short Message Service (SMS) to abuse its permissions. Various types of attack, referred to as botnets, can be executed without the user's knowledge by taking advantage of SMS messages, such as sending text message spam, transferring all command and control (C&C) instructions, launching denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, sending premium-rate SMS messages, or distributing malicious applications via URLs embedded in text messages. In this paper, we propose a real-time signature-based detection mechanism to combat SMS botnets, in which we first apply pattern-matching detection approaches for incoming and outgoing SMS text messages, and then use rule-based techniques to label unknown SMS messages as suspicious or normal. This approach was evaluated using over 12,000 test messages. It was able to detect all 747 malicious SMS messages in the dataset (100% detection rate with no false negatives). It also flagged 351 SMS messages as suspicious.

BackgroundMost mHealth tools such as short message service (SMS), mobile apps, wireless pill counters, and ingestible wireless monitors use mobile antennas to communicate. Limited signal availability, often due to poor antenna infrastructure, negatively impacts the implementation of mHealth tools and remote data collection. Assessing the antenna infrastructure prior to starting a study can help mitigate this problem. Currently, there are no studies that detail whether and how the antenna infrastructure of a study site or area is assessed.ObjectiveTo address this literature gap, we analyze and discuss the use of a cartographic analysis of antennas and towers (CAAT) for mobile communications for geographically assessing mobile antenna and tower infrastructure and identifying signal availability for mobile devices prior to the implementation of an SMS-based mHealth pilot study.MethodsAn alpha test of the SMS system was performed using 11 site staff. A CAAT for the study area’s mobile network was performed after the alpha test and pre-implementation of the pilot study. The pilot study used a convenience sample of 11 high-risk men who have sex with men who were given human immunodeficiency virus test kits for testing nonmonogamous sexual partners before intercourse. Product use and sexual behavior were tracked through SMS. Message frequency analyses were performed on the SMS text messages, and SMS sent/received frequencies of 11 staff and 11 pilot study participants were compared.ResultsThe CAAT helped us to successfully identify strengths and weaknesses in mobile service capacity within a 3-mile radius from the epicenters of four New York City boroughs. During the alpha test, before CAAT, 1176/1202 (97.84%) text messages were sent to staff, of which 26/1176 (2.21%) failed. After the CAAT, 2934 messages were sent to pilot study participants and none failed.ConclusionsThe CAAT effectively illustrated the research area’s mobile infrastructure and signal availability, which allowed us to improve study setup and sent message success rates. The SMS messages were sent and received with a lower fail rate than those reported in previous studies.

BackgroundCommunity health workers are reemerging as an essential component of health systems in low-income countries. However, there are concerns that unless they are adequately supported, their motivation and performance will be suboptimal. mHealth presents an opportunity to improve support for community health workers; however, most interventions to date have been designed through a top-down approach, rarely involve the end user, and have not focused on motivation.ObjectiveTo use formative research to explore the views of community health workers in Uganda and Mozambique on the potential role of mHealth in their work delivering integrated community case management of children.MethodsWe conducted 24 in-depth interviews and 5 focus group discussions with community health workers in Uganda and Mozambique. Data were collected on: current phone use, preferred phone and charger characteristics, and perceptions of a range of potential mHealth interventions. Interviews were conducted in the local language, were audio recorded and converted into expanded notes. Interviews were coded for key thematic areas using both deductive and inductive codes. Deductive codes included mHealth’s potential impact on motivation and performance.ResultsThe most salient roles of mHealth in improving performance and motivation were reducing the need for travel, improving efficiency and planning, receiving feedback and information, and improving communication with supervisors and other community health workers. This was mostly through improved voice and short message service (SMS) text communication. Specific components of mHealth interventions that participants felt could improve motivation included increasing their visibility and credibility through branding of phones; providing an SMS response to data submission; and sending SMS messages about the importance of their work and achievements, rather than just reminders or technical messages. Participants identified feasibility issues related to the language of SMS messages, network coverage, and the need for a balance between phone function and battery life. Phones with a dual SIM cards would ameliorate network problems but would reduce battery life. The provision of a solar charger was viewed as beneficial.ConclusionsConducting formative research with end users is likely to improve mHealth interventions by: (1) identifying interventions that are likely to have the greatest impact and be the most acceptable, (2) developing salient SMS messages, and (3) identifying feasibility issues. mHealth interventions also could have an important impact on health worker motivation, which should be considered by intervention developers and in evaluations, especially as small modifications could have a significant impact. Our study suggests that using phones to improve direct communication should be considered, even when planners aim to focus on the provision of a specific application.

Cancer is on the rise, and the effectiveness of oral anticancer agent (OA) treatment depends heavily on adherence to the prescribed regimen. Adherence, however, is a significant problem with 42% of patients missing OA doses due to poor memory recall, lack of knowledge, incompatible beliefs, and depressive symptoms. Short Message Service (SMS) messaging may provide a feasible, low-cost approach to promote adherence and lead to improved patient outcomes when compared to other strategies that have had disappointing results. Through our Health Belief Messaging Framework, we propose that SMS message development may be informed by adherence antecedents, namely Perceived Benefits, Perceived Barriers, and Cues to Action. Through a 2-group, 80-patient, randomized controlled trial of a tailored, daily SMS intervention for 21 days, an improved adherence trend, and a statistically significant effect on the number of symptoms and physical function was observed, patient satisfaction with the SMS messaging was also reported.