The Role of Partnerships to Support Txt4Health Program

Background:

The txt4health campaign is part of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program, an ONC grant program for communities to build and strengthen health information technology infrastructure to support clinical quality improvement and population health goals. The txt4health campaign identified, recruited, and leveraged public and private sector partners to drive awareness about the mobile health information service to individuals with the greatest need for basic diabetes and health/wellness information to support a more healthy and productive lifestyle.

Program background: In January 2012, the Crescent City Beacon Community officially launched the txt4health campaign that allowed adult residents of Greater New Orleans the opportunity to text the word "HEALTH" to 300400 to take a free diabetes risk assessment. Upon enrollment, participants categorized as HIGH RISK were linked to local care and resources and encouraged to set personal weight loss and physical activity goals. A community advisory group was established to support the program planning, implementation and evaluation phases of txt4health. Several community engagement activities were planned and executed in partnership with faith-based, fraternity/sorority groups, neighborhood associations, and several community based organizations in efforts to drive awareness about the txt4health program and educate at-risk groups about type 2 diabetes.

Evaluation Methods and Results: The Crescent City Beacon Community applied a pre and post campaign population-based evaluation design to assess the effectiveness of the social marketing campaign in raising awareness of the txt4health program in the community. We will present the results of the pre and post surveys conducted in the Greater New Orleans, as well as the enrollment information from the program data that was collected via text messaging, which includes information on the primary objectives of the campaign: raise awareness about type 2 diabetes, encourage participants to set weight loss and physical activity goals, and link participants to local care and resources.

Conclusions: The txt4health campaign is one of the largest population based mobile health program in the U.S. with over 1,700 participants enrolled. Over seventy-five percent (75%) of participants were either obese or overweight; sixty-seven percent (67%) set a weight loss or physical activity goal; and over 50% sought local care and resources at some point during the 14-week intervention. Over thirty percent (30%) of Greater New Orleans residents were aware of the txt4health campaign and core messaging.

Implications for research and/or practice: New strategies and innovations in care are required to stem the increasing burden of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Effective information technology tools can be used to generate awareness of risk factors for these conditions, and to promote early screening and prevention in the general public. Testing mHealth programs at the population and public health level for conditions like type 2 diabetes is therefore imperative.