CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2015 Feb 18;3(1):e19. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.3874.
Mobile health (mHealth) has been posited to contribute to the reduction in health gaps and has shown fast and widespread growth in developing countries. This growth demands understanding of, and preparedness for, local cultural contexts.
To describe the design and validation of text messages (short message service, SMS) that will be used for an mHealth behavioral change intervention to prevent hypertension in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru.
An initial set of 64 SMS text messages were designed to promote healthy lifestyles among individuals in different stages of behavior change, addressing four key domains: salt and sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of high fat and sugar foods, and physical activity. The 64 SMS text messages were organized into nine subsets for field validation. In each country 36 people were recruited, half of them being male. Of the participants, 4 per country evaluated each subset of SMS text messages, which contained between 6 and 8 SMS text messages regarding different key domains and stages of change. The understanding and appeal of each SMS text message was assessed using a 7-item questionnaire. The understanding and appeal ratings were used to reach a final set of 56 SMS text messages.
Overall, each of the 64 SMS text messages received a total of 12 evaluations (4 per country). The majority of evaluations-742 out of a total of 767 (96.7%) valid responses-revealed an adequate understanding of the key idea contained in the SMS text message. On a scale from 1 to 10, the average appeal score was 8.7 points, with a range of 4 to 10 points. Based on their low scores, 8 SMS text messages per country were discarded. Once the final set of 56 SMS text messages was established, and based on feedback obtained in the field, wording and content of some SMS text messages were improved. Of the final set, 9, 8, and 16 of the SMS text messages were improved based on participant evaluations from Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru, respectively. Most SMS text messages selected for the final set (49/56, 88%) were the same in all countries, except for small wording differences.
The final set of SMS text messages produced had very high rates of understanding and appeal in three different Latin American countries. This study highlights the importance of developing and validating a package of simple, preventative SMS text messages, grounded in evidence and theory, across three different Latin American countries with active engagement of end users.
移动医疗（mHealth）被认为有助于缩小健康差距，并且在发展中国家快速广泛地发展。这种增长需要了解和准备当地的文化背景。
描述短信（短消息服务，SMS）的设计和验证，这些短信将用于拉丁美洲三个国家（阿根廷、危地马拉和秘鲁）的一项 mHealth 行为改变干预措施，以预防高血压。
最初设计了 64 条短信，旨在促进不同行为改变阶段的个体的健康生活方式，涵盖四个关键领域：盐和钠摄入量、水果和蔬菜摄入量、高脂肪和高糖食物的摄入以及身体活动。这 64 条短信被组织成九个子集进行现场验证。每个国家招募了 36 人，其中一半是男性。每个国家的 4 人评估了包含不同关键领域和行为改变阶段的 6 到 8 条短信的短信文本消息子集。使用 7 项问卷评估每条短信的理解和吸引力。理解和吸引力评分用于确定最终的 56 条短信。
总的来说，最初的 64 条短信共收到了 12 条评价（每个国家 4 条）。大多数评价-767 条有效回复中的 742 条（96.7%）表明他们充分理解了短信中包含的关键信息。在 1 到 10 的评分范围内，平均吸引力评分为 8.7 分，范围为 4 到 10 分。根据得分较低的情况，每个国家丢弃了 8 条短信。一旦确定了最终的 56 条短信，并且根据现场反馈，就改进了一些短信的措辞和内容。在最终的短信集中，基于阿根廷、危地马拉和秘鲁参与者的评估，对 9、8 和 16 条短信进行了改进。除了措辞上的细微差异外，最终的短信集中的大多数短信（56 条中的 49 条，88%）在所有国家都是相同的。
在拉丁美洲的三个不同国家，最终的短信集在理解和吸引力方面的得分非常高。这项研究强调了在三个不同的拉丁美洲国家，通过积极参与最终用户，开发和验证一套简单、预防性的基于证据和理论的短信的重要性。
