A recent study conducted by the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare, found that text messaging is an innovative, low-cost and effective way to improve the daily use of sunscreen, and this technology may have important implications for larger-scale public health initiatives. Study participants who received text-message reminders on their cell phones were nearly twice as adherent to applying sunscreen compared with participants who did not receive reminders. This study was the lead paper in the November issue of Archives of Dermatology (Volume 145, No. 11, November 2009), and was also featured in the Journal's Editorial, "Adherence, the Fourth Dimension in the Geometry of Dermatological Treatment."
Seventy participants completed the 6-week randomized, controlled trial, with half receiving daily text message reminders; the other half did not receive reminders. The 35 participants receiving text message reminders had a daily adherence rate of 56.1%, while the 35 study subjects who did not receive reminders had an adherence rate of 30.0% (p<.001). Adherence between the two groups were similar at week 1 of the study, but differed significantly for the remainder of the trial>