Effectiveness Of Text Messaging Research Articles

Text in the City: Implementation of a clinic-based text messaging program to educate and inform

Text messaging has become the primary method of communication among teenagers and young adults. Cell phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day; this suggests that text messaging may play a role in communication between adolescent patients and their healthcare providers. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of a text messaging program for complimenting a clinical visit and augmenting health education in an adolescent healthcare setting. An integrated texting platform included three components: birth control reminders, health education messages, and a 'chat' function. Of the 700 patients made aware of the program in a 6-month period, 42% (291/700) used text messaging at least once for birth control adherence or educational purposes. The ability for patients to text questions confidentially and anonymously was popular with many questions requesting information about proper use of birth control. The study showed that text messaging may be a valuable and feasible tool to augment health education efforts for adolescents attending a primary care setting. Further studies are ongoing determining the effectiveness of text messaging in improving outcomes of patient adherence to and correct use of birth control methods.

Effects of Text Messaging on Academic Performance

ABSTRACT University students frequently send and receive cellular phone text messages during classroom instruction. Cognitive psychology research indicates that multi-tasking is frequently associated with performance cost. However, university students often have considerable experience with electronic multi-tasking and may believe that they can devote necessary attention to a classroom lecture while sending and receiving text messages. In the current study, university students who used text messaging were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1. a group that sent and received text messages during a lecture or, 2. a group that did not engage in text messaging during the lecture. Participants who engaged in text messaging demonstrated significantly poorer performance on a test covering lecture content compared with the group that did not send and receive text messages. Participants exhibiting higher levels of text messaging skill had significantly lower test scores than participants who were less proficient at text messaging. It is hypothesized that in terms of retention of lecture material, more frequent task shifting by those with greater text messaging proficiency contributed to poorer performance. Overall, the findings do not support the view, held by many university students, that this form of multitasking has little effect on the acquisition of lecture content. Results provide empirical support for teachers and professors who ban text messaging in the classroom.

The effect of text messaging on 9‐ and 10‐year‐old children's reading, spelling and phonological processing skills

AbstractThis paper reports on an intervention study that considered the impact of text messaging on 9‐ to 10‐year‐old children's literacy skills. One hundred and fourteen children who had never owned a mobile phone before were recruited and randomly allocated to either the intervention or control conditions. All children were pre‐ and post‐tested on a range of reading, spelling and phonological awareness measures. Children in the intervention group were given access to a mobile phone (enabled for text messaging only) for weekends and during half‐term break for a 10‐week period. It was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups of children in terms of their literacy attainment during that period. However, within the mobile phone group, there was evidence that use of text abbreviations was positively related to gains in literacy skills. Moreover, after controlling for individual differences in IQ, and the children's performance at pre‐test, textism usage was able to account for a significant amount of variance in post‐test spelling scores. These results show that text messaging does not adversely affect the development of literacy skills within this age group, and that the children's use of textisms when text messaging is positively related to improvement in literacy skills, especially spelling.

Prompting Healthy Behavior via Text Messaging in Adolescents and Young Adults

Unhealthy and risky behaviors among adolescents and young adults, such as poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, smoking, and sexual practices, can lead to long-term negative health outcomes. Individuals with chronic diseases in these age groups are also more prone to nonadherence in the management of their diseases. Positively influencing the voluntary aspect of unhealthy behaviors in adolescents and young adults is an important public health topic. Recent research on cell phone text messaging has emerged as a potentially efficient, real-time intervention portal to prompt healthy behaviors in these populations. The purpose of this article is to review the current state of research evaluating the effectiveness of text messaging as a health intervention for adolescents and young adults.