Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 6;6(5):e34960.
doi: 10.2196/34960.

A Self-management SMS Text Messaging Intervention for People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Feasibility and Acceptability Study

Jacob A Rohde  1 , Edwin B Fisher  2 , Marcella H Boynton  3 , Deen Freelon  1 , Dennis O Frohlich  4 , Edward L Barnes  5 , Seth M Noar  1
Affiliations

A Self-management SMS Text Messaging Intervention for People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Feasibility and Acceptability Study

Jacob A Rohde et al. JMIR Form Res. .

Abstract

Background: Mobile health technologies can be useful for providing disease self-management information and support to people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Objective: The aim of this study was to test a self-management SMS text messaging intervention for people with IBD. Our goal was to examine intervention feasibility, acceptability, and engagement and to preliminarily evaluate improvements in certain self-reported health outcomes among participants.

Methods: We developed an SMS text messaging program called Text4IBD. The program sent daily support messages and resources about disease self-management over the course of a 2-week, single-group, pretest-posttest intervention to participants (N=114) diagnosed with IBD. We examined intervention feasibility, acceptability, and engagement through Text4IBD message topic recall and use of resources (ie, visiting supplemental websites recommended by the Text4IBD program). We also assessed pretest-posttest measures of IBD-related distress, self-efficacy, perceived support, use of coping strategies, and medication adherence. Analyses examined participants' evaluations of the intervention and compared pretest-posttest changes in secondary outcomes using paired-samples statistics.

Results: Approximately all participants who completed the intervention (n=105) were receptive to Text4IBD and viewed the program as feasible and acceptable. In addition, most participants (103/105, 98.1%) recalled at least one of the message topics sent by the program, and 79% (83/105) of them self-reported engaging with at least one of the external self-management resources recommended by the Text4IBD program. Pretest-posttest results showed reduced IBD-related distress (mean 3.33, SD 0.68 vs mean 2.86, SD 0.73; P<.001) and improvements in most other secondary outcomes.

Conclusions: Findings from this study highlight the value of SMS text messaging as a useful digital medium for providing support to people with IBD, particularly to those who may struggle with disease-related distress. Text4IBD was highly feasible and acceptable and may help people self-manage their IBD. Future studies should aim to evaluate this program in a randomized controlled trial in clinical settings.

Keywords: SMS text messaging; inflammatory bowel disease; mHealth; mobile phone; self-management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: ELB is a consultant for AbbVie and Target RWE.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of participant recruitment, enrollment, and retention.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SMS text messaging schedule for the Text4IBD program. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Example SMS text messages sent by the Text4IBD program. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Aided topic recall of the Text4IBD messages. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; IBS: irritable bowel syndrome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dahlhamer JM, Zammitti EP, Ward BW, Wheaton AG, Croft JB. Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease among adults aged ≥18 years - United States, 2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016 Oct 28;65(42):1166–9. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6542a3. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6542a3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Neuendorf R, Harding A, Stello N, Hanes D, Wahbeh H. Depression and anxiety in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review. J Psychosom Res. 2016 Aug;87:70–80. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.06.001.S0022-3999(16)30317-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Byrne G, Rosenfeld G, Leung Y, Qian H, Raudzus J, Nunez C, Bressler B. Prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Can J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;2017:6496727. doi: 10.1155/2017/6496727. doi: 10.1155/2017/6496727. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Terlizzi EP, Schiller JS. Estimates of mental health symptomatology, by month of interview: United States, 2019. National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. Mar, [2022-04-26]. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/mental-health-monthly-508.pdf .
    1. Graff LA, Walker JR, Bernstein CN. Depression and anxiety in inflammatory bowel disease: a review of comorbidity and management. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2009 Jul;15(7):1105–18. doi: 10.1002/ibd.20873. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources