Cell phone–based health education messaging improves health literacy

Background: The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education.Objective: To explore the use of cell phone–based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China.Methods: A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants ≥ 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups.Results: Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54.Conclusion: SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy.Keywords: Health literacy, intervention, community residents, cell phone, short message servic

Cell phone\u2013based health education messaging improves health literacy.

Background: The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. Objective: To explore the use of cell phone\u2013based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China. Methods: A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants 65 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups. Results: Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non-permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54. Conclusion: SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy

Short message service usage may improve the public's self‐health management: A community‐based randomized controlled study

Abstract Background and Aims The last decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in mobile phone use. It links millions of previously unconnected people. The ubiquity of mobile phones, which allows for use of the short message service (SMS), offers new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. SMS usage appears to be a feasible, popular, and effective way of improving health literacy. This study measured the effect of SMS health education on the improvement of health management in Shenzhen, China. Methods This was a community‐based randomized controlled study. A total of 32 communities were randomly chosen out of 320, then about 200 participants were randomly sampled from each selected community. The subjects were equally divided into two groups at random. About half of the participants received health intervention messages via Internet‐based SMS for almost a year. The data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results The proportion of participants involved in self‐health management increased from 30.92% to 38.68% over the year (χ2 = 42.49, p  0.05). No statistical difference in the prevalence of chronic disease (15.16% and 13.89%, p > 0.05) was found before and after the intervention in the intervention group. The prevalence in the intervention group was lower after the intervention than it was in the control group (17.33%, χ2 = 14.45, p < 0.001). Conclusions SMS may be a powerful tool for improving the public's health literacy and health management because it is widely available, popular, affordable, and instant

Prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms and related risk factors among physicians in China: a cross-sectional study.

Physicians' poor mental health not only hinders their professional performance and affects the quality of healthcare provided but also adversely affects patients' health outcomes. Few studies in China have evaluated the mental health of physicians. The purposes of this study are to quantify Chinese physicians' anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as evaluate associated risk factors.In our study, 2641 physicians working in public hospitals in Shenzhen in southern China were recruited and interviewed by using a structured questionnaire along with validated scales testing anxiety and depressive symptoms. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify risk factors for anxiety and depressive symptoms.An estimated 25.67% of physicians had anxiety symptoms, 28.13% had depressive symptoms, and 19.01% had both anxiety and depressive symptoms. More than 10% of the participants often experienced workplace violence and 63.17% sometimes encountered it. Among our study population, anxiety and depressive symptoms were associated with poor self-reported physical health, frequent workplace violence, lengthy working hours (more than 60 hours a week), frequent night shifts (twice or more per week), and lack of regular physical exercise.Our study demonstrates that anxiety and depressive symptoms are common among physicians in China, and the doctor-patient relationship issue is particularly stressful. Interventions implemented to minimize workload, improve doctor-patient relationships, and assist physicians in developing healthier lifestyles are essential to combat anxiety and depressive symptoms among physicians, which may improve their professional performance

Logistic regression analysis of anxiety and depressive symptoms with mutually adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

a<p>Ref is reference.</p><p>*P<0.05;</p><p>**P<0.01;</p><p>***P<0.0001 (two-tailed test).</p

Descriptive statistics for the characteristics and associations with anxiety and depressive symptoms of the participants.

<p>Note: <i>P</i> values are associated with Chi-square tests.</p>a<p>SD is standard deviation.</p>b<p><i>P</i> value is associated with analysis of variance.</p>c<p><i>P</i> value is associated with Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics.</p