A Pilot Study Using Text Messaging to Communicate With Adolescent Females in the Pediatric Emergency Department (T2I)

Texting 2 Initiate: A Pilot Study Using Text Messaging to Communicate With Adolescent Females in the Pediatric Emergency Department (T2I)

The objective of this study is to develop and test an emergency department (ED)-based intervention which uses text messages to facilitate contraception initiation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pregnancy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Text Messaging Intervention; Other: Standard Referral

Detailed Description

Our hypothesis is that adolescent females at high pregnancy risk who receive text message reminders and motivational messages that promote contraception and referral to the Family Planning Clinic are more likely to start effective contraception than those who receive standard paper-based referral to the Family Planning Clinic alone.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Manhattan, New York, United States, 10032
      • Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital Emergency Department

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 14-19 years
• Sexually active with males in the past three months
• Presenting to the ED for a reproductive health complaint.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presently pregnant
• Too ill for participation per the attending physician
• Cognitively impaired
• In foster care or a ward of the state
• Does not speak English or Spanish
• Does not own a cellular or mobile phone with text messaging capabilities
• Used contraception at last intercourse and/or is currently using any "highly effective" or "effective" form of contraception (as defined by the World Health Organization)
• Does not live in Manhattan or the Bronx

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Text Messaging Intervention; Patients in the text messaging group will receive educational and motivational text messages.	Other: Text Messaging Intervention
Active Comparator: Standard Referral; Patients in the standard referral arm will receive paper based information about the Family Planning Clinic.	Other: Standard Referral

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Initiation of highly effective contraception, as defined by the World Health Organization.	We will be assessing contraception initiation rates based on electronic medical record review and telephone call follow up.	3 months after initial enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient visits to Family Planning Clinic	We assess Family Planning Clinic visits using our electronic medical records.	3 months after initial enrollment
Follow up for contraceptive counseling to a doctor or nurse	We will be asking patients during our phone call follow if they have had contraceptive counseling with any healthcare professional. We will also be looking through electronic medical records for documentation of contraceptive counseling such as by ICD-9 coding or a physician's/nurse's note.	3 months after initial enrollment
Change in pregnancy intentions	We will compare pregnancy intentions elicited from the answers provided in the baseline questionnaire to those reported on the telephone follow up for both study arms.	3 months after initial enrollment

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Text messaging intervention safety	Safety will be assessed during the telephone follow up.	3 months after initial enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Columbia University
• Collaborators: Society of Family Planning
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lauren Chernick, MD, Columbia University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Palmer MJ, Henschke N, Villanueva G, Maayan N, Bergman H, Glenton C, Lewin S, Fonhus MS, Tamrat T, Mehl GL, Free C. Targeted client communication via mobile devices for improving sexual and reproductive health. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jul 14;8(8):CD013680. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013680.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 19, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): March 21, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 20, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 18, 2017
• Last Verified: January 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Text messaging; Pregnancy, unplanned; Reproductive behavior
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Emergencies
• Other Study ID Numbers: AAAM3457

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No