BART Text Messaging Project: A Feasibility Study

Cornelius, Judith

Friday, July 15, 2011: 3:45 PM

Judith Cornelius, PhD, MS, RN¹
Jacek Dmochowski, PhD²
Michael Cato, MBA²
(1)School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
(2)College of Health and Human Services, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Learning Objective 1: Describe the process used to send mobile cell safer sex messages to African American teens.

Learning Objective 2: Identify intervention related behavior changes that occurred as a result of the mobile cell phone text messages.

Introduction- HIV is a significant health problem for African-American adolescents. Today, reaching adolescents with HIV prevention information requires technology, which is cost effective and requires less personnel to implement. Mobile cell phones (MCPs) have shown potential as a new medium for the delivery of HIV prevention information, which can be broadly diffused and sustained globally. However, the feasibility of this approach is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of delivering an adolescent HIV prevention curriculum enhanced for MCP delivery.

Methods- This study was a longitudinal one group design with 3 time points (pre/post, 3-month follow-up). A convenience sample of 40 African American teens (11-13 years) were recruited to participate in the Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART) Text Messaging Project. Teens attended 7 weekly sessions, then received daily text messages for 3 months, and returned for a graduation ceremony.

Data collection tools examined the feasibility of this approach and intervention related changes for HIV Knowledge, Perceived HIV Risk, Attitudes toward Condom Use, and HIV Risk Behaviors.

Results- The text messaging approach was feasible. There were intervention related changes over time. HIV knowledge was associated with age (p=0.04) and time (p=0.054). Older teens had higher knowledge scores across time. Perceived HIV risk was associated with age (p=0.03) and time (p=0.009). Older teens had more confidence about protecting themselves from HIV. Attitude toward condoms use was associated with gender, age and time. Teens had increased attitudes toward condom use (p=0.0009) across time. HIV Risk Behaviors indicated that when compared to girls, boys believed that their HIV risk was small (p=0.07).

Implications- Results of this study indicate that MCPs should be examined as a new platform for providing HIV prevention information. Findings of this study extend research on the delivery of health promotion information with MCP technology.

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