Testing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Text Messages to Promote Attendance at HMRE Sessions

January 28, 2021 updated by: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
The University of Florida offers relationship education programs named ELEVATE, for couples, and Smart Steps, for couples in stepfamilies, in Citrus, Duval, Manatee, Palm Beach, and Santa Rosa counties. Each workshop comprises 4 2.5-hour long sessions. The STREAMS evaluation will examine whether text messages informed by behavioral insight theory can improve couples' attendance at relationship skills education group sessions, and if so, which kinds of messages are most effective

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The University of Florida operates the SMART program, which will offer four relationship education programs, each targeting a different population: (1) Relationship Smarts PLUS, for high school youth; (2) Before You Tie the Knot, for couples interested in marriage; (3) ELEVATE, for couples, and (4) Smart Steps, for couples in stepfamilies. All programming is offered through the University of Florida's IFAS Extension service in Citrus, Duval, Manatee, Palm Beach, and Santa Rosa counties.

The STREAMS evaluation will test text messaging strategies with couples enrolled in ELEVATE and Smart Steps. It will examine whether text messages informed by behavioral insight theory can improve couples' attendance at relationship skills education group sessions, and if so, which kinds of messages are most effective. ACF staff have noted that among the most common technical assistance requests from HMRE grantees are help with improving participation. Even if relationship skills sessions are offered in a convenient location where adults receive other services and even if programs offer transportation, child care and other assistance to facilitate regular program attendance, achieving consistent participation in these voluntary programs can be challenging. The University of Florida study will help address these challenges by examining whether text messages based on behavioral theories can work as a simple, practical strategy for improving program participation in group sessions. More broadly, the site will also add to the large and growing effort across the federal government to study the use of behavioral interventions or "nudges" to improve social programs.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1904

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

  • United States
    • Florida
      • Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32611
        • University of Florida

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Couple
  • Both partners consent to receive text messages

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Single Adults
  • Either Partner or both do not consent to receive text messages

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Behavioral Text Messages
Couples assigned to a treatment group will receive weekly behavioral theory-based messages encouraging them to attend the sessions.
Behavioral: Behavioral Text Messages
No Intervention: Simple Reminder Text Messages
Couples in the control group will receive "simple" reminder text messages that include the date, time, and location of their next group session

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attendance at programming session
Time Frame: Within 1 month of baseline
Whether couple attends all 4 group programming sessions
Within 1 month of baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Collaborators

Department of Health and Human Services

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Diane Paulsell, Mathematica Policy Research

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 (Actual)

January 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 26, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 31, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

June 1, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 2, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 28, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MPR-500098-UF

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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