The Impact Of Text Message (SMS) Reminders On Helmet Use Among Motorcycle Drivers In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

September 28, 2015 updated by: Amend
This study seeks to evaluate the impact of a text-message (SMS) program delivered to motorcycle drivers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The SMS program, delivered by nonprofit Amend, sends daily reminders to motorcycle drivers to remind them to wear their helmets. In this study, the investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial to see if this program leads to increased helmet use over time. The investigators will recruit between 350-400 motorcycle drivers to receive the text program. The investigators will obtain each of their cell phone numbers, and the participants will be split into three groups. The first group will receive reminders framed as social norming (ie "Most of your peers wear helmets"). The second group will receive reminders framed as fear appeals (ie "Not wearing your helmet increases your chance of dying in an accident"). The third group will act as the control and receive texts that relate to general road safety, but not helmet use. All groups will receive the same general road safety information being delivered to the control arm. The purpose of sending different types of reminders is to assess which type of messages are more likely to cause a motorcycle driver to regularly wear their helmet. The investigators will survey the participants at the initiation of the study and after weeks 3 and 6 during the study, asking about their helmet use. This will be a short survey, and any personal information gathered during the study (ie, phone numbers), will be securely stored so as to protect their privacy.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

391

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Tanzania
    • Upanga West
      • Dar es Salaam, Upanga West, Tanzania, 65001
        • Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18 or older
  • Must own a cell phone with text-message features
  • Must demonstrate ability to retrieve and read text-messages
  • Must have access to a helmet.

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Norming
The first group will receive SMS message reminders framed as social norming (ie "Most of your peers wear helmets").
Behavioral: SMS message reminder
SMS texts will be delivered to study participants over a 6-week period.
Experimental: Fear Appeal
The second group will receive SMS message reminders framed as fear appeals (ie "Not wearing your helmet increases your chance of dying in an accident").
Behavioral: SMS message reminder
SMS texts will be delivered to study participants over a 6-week period.
Placebo Comparator: Control
The third group will act as the control and receive texts that relate to general road safety, but not helmet use.
Behavioral: SMS message reminder
SMS texts will be delivered to study participants over a 6-week period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-reported adherence to helmet use
Time Frame: Midpoint of study (3 weeks)
The primary outcome of the study will be self-reported adherence to helmet use as measured by the proportion of participants who wear their helmet on all trips
Midpoint of study (3 weeks)
Self-reported adherence to helmet use
Time Frame: Endpoint of study (6 weeks)
The primary outcome of the study will be self-reported adherence to helmet use as measured by the proportion of participants who wear their helmet on all trips
Endpoint of study (6 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attitude change
Time Frame: 6 weeks
A secondary outcome will be participants' attitudes toward helmet use and the SMS reminder platform, as measured by an open-ended survey at the end of the study.
6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Amend

Collaborators

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 19, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 22, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

April 23, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 30, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 28, 2015

Last Verified

September 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • D14103

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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