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Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393

www.jahonline.org

Original article

A Sex Risk Reduction Text-Message Program for Young Adult Females


Discharged From the Emergency Department
Brian Suffoletto, M.D. a, *, Aletha Akers, M.D. b, Kathleen A. McGinnis, M.S. c, Jaclyn Calabria, M.Sc. a,
Harold C. Wiesenfeld, M.D., C.M. b, and Duncan B. Clark, M.D., Ph.D. d
a
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
b
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
c
Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
d
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Article history: Received October 29, 2012; Accepted April 2, 2013


Keywords: Young adult; Health promotion; Sexual health; Text messaging

A B S T R A C T
IMPLICATIONS AND
CONTRIBUTION
Purpose: To pilot test a text message (SMS) sex risk reduction program among at-risk young adult
female patients discharged from an emergency department (ED).
The results of this pilot
Methods: A convenience sample of 52 female patients with hazardous drinking behavior and study suggest that text
recent risky sexual encounters were recruited from an urban ED and randomized to the SMS message programs may be
program (n ¼ 23) or a control group (n ¼ 29). All participants completed a web-based question- useful to monitor risky
naire in the ED and at 3-month follow-up. For 12 weeks, SMS participants were asked to report sexual encounters and
whether they had a risky sexual encounter in the past week, received theory-based feedback, and provide behavioral support
were asked if they were willing set a goal to refrain from having another risky encounter. to reduce risk for sexually
Results: Thirty-nine percent of SMS participants completed all weeks of SMS reports, and non- transmitted diseases
completion increasing from 12% on week 1 to a 33% by week 12. Three-month follow-up was completed among at-risk young adult
in 56% of participants. In the intervention group, there was an increase in the proportion with condom female patients discharged
use with last vaginal sex from 20% (95% CI 4%e48%) to 53% (95% CI 27%e79%) and an increase in from an emergency
always condom use over the past 28 days from 0% (95% CI 0%e22%) to 33% (95% CI 12%e62%). These department.
changes were not statistically different from control participants.
Conclusions: SMS programs may be useful to reduce risk for sexually transmitted diseases among
at-risk young adults being discharged from the ED. Future trials should examine ways to improve
adherence to SMS dialog over time and measure objective outcomes in a larger sample.
Ó 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.

In the United States, young adults acquire nearly half of all One major impediment to STD services is that young adults
new sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), with the vast majority frequently lack a usual source of ambulatory care [3,4].
diagnosed in women [1]. In 2010, young adult women ages Compared with other age groups, a higher proportion of young
20e24 years had the highest rate of chlamydia and the second adults use the emergency department (ED) for routine medical
highest rate of gonorrhea compared with any other age group [2]. care problems [5]. Because the ED serves a population of young
adults who are also disproportionately susceptible to STDs, it
Declaration of conflicts: The authors report no conflicts of interest. may provide a unique venue to screen young adults for at-risk
Parts of this study were presented as a poster at the 35th Annual Research behavior and intervene to reduce future risk [6].
Society on Alcoholism in San Francisco, June 23, 2012.
Unfortunately, evidence suggests that ED providers do not
* Address correspondence to: Brian Suffoletto, M.D., University of Pittsburgh,
3600 Forbes Ave., Iroquois Bldg, Suite 400A, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. typically provide STD prevention services, even when they are
E-mail address: suffbp@upmc.edu (B. Suffoletto). warranted [7]. Multiple barriers exist at the patient and provider

1054-139X/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.04.006
388 B. Suffoletto et al. / Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393

levels. Provider-level barriers include lack of time and/or comfort concurrent with their last sexual intercourse [26]. Women were
performing sexual risk assessments and providing sexual excluded if they reported current substance abuse or psychiatric
counseling services [8]. Patient-level barriers include lack of treatment because most already have structured support for risk
comfort discussing sensitive topics such as sex with a care behavior prevention which would contaminate the study
provider or concerns about confidentiality if family and/or outcome assessment. Women were also excluded if they reported
friends are present [9]. Given these barriers, innovative tech- having a monogamous partner for >2 years or were planning
niques are needed to improve delivery of preventive health pregnancy in next 3 months because of the low rate of condom
services for sexual health to ED patients. use in these individuals. Those who did not have a personal
One promising modality to promote the adoption of healthier mobile phone with text messaging features were also excluded.
sexual decisions among young adults is through mobile
communication technology. Ninety-five percent of young adults Procedures
own a mobile phone and 97% of these use text messaging (SMS),
either sending or receiving an average of 50 texts per day [9]. Women deemed eligible based on the screening assessment
SMS has been used to promote health in a wide range of young completed a baseline questionnaire on the tablet PC. After
adult health issues, including diabetes [10], asthma [11], cigarette completing the baseline questionnaire, participants were
smoking [12], and alcohol use [13]. Within the realm of sexual randomized to either the intervention or control group using
health, SMS has been used to improve communication between a computer-generated random sequence. Intervention partici-
sexual health clinics and patients [14], improve partner notifi- pants received an information sheet on which a “risky encounter”
cation and sexual contact tracing [15], and collect sex risk data was defined as “sex after drugs or alcohol or sex without
from young adults [16]. SMS-based interventions have been used a condom.”
to improve HIV awareness and knowledge among older adoles-
cents [17] and to improve STD knowledge and testing among Intervention group
young adult women [18]. We attempted to leverage the full
potential of SMS by developing an automated sex risk reduction Upon entering their phone number into our system, inter-
program that provides feedback based on behavioral change vention participants received a series of welcome text messages
theory [19] tailored to a participants’ reported engagement in describing the program. Each Sunday at noon, intervention
risky encounters [20]. We targeted young adult women who participants received a sequence of text messages that assessed
self-reported baseline hazardous drinking behavior because of risky encounters over the past week, were provided personalized
the high rates of alcohol misuse among young adults [21] and feedback on risk behavior, and were prompted collaborative goal
prior research establishing the association between alcohol setting to not have a risky encounter for the coming week. We
consumption and STD acquisition [22]. chose Sunday at noon to initiate health-related dialog based on
proximity to weekend activities to reduce recall bias and pref-
Methods erences determined by participants in our prior study [14]. This
automated conversation used elements of the Health Belief
Study design Model [27] and the Information Motivation Behavior model [28].
Following precepts of the Health Belief Model, we incorporated
In this pilot study, a randomized control group design was messages to increase an individual’s perceived susceptibility
used to assess whether an SMS program would decrease sex risk to getting an STD, perceived severity of health risk associated
behaviors at 3-month follow-up relative to a no-intervention with an STD, and benefits of adopting protective behaviors
control group. Recruitment occurred between September 2011 (using condoms). According to the Information-Motivation-
and April 2012 at a single urban level I trauma and tertiary Behavioral Skills model constructs, which may account for up
care hospital ED in western Pennsylvania. The study was to half of the variance in condom use [29], we incorporated
approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of messages relaying effective health information about STDs
Pittsburgh. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov specific to young adult women, increasing personal motivation
(number NCT01548183). to adopting healthy sexual behaviors and tools to increase self-
efficacy for protected sexual encounters. If participants did
Recruitment and eligibility not respond within 6 hours of a query, a second text message was
sent out repeating the initial message. If no response was
A research associate (RA) identified potential participants who received within 12 hours, the data were considered lost and the
were female, age 18e25 years old, and not critically ill using an participant was retexted the following week. If two consecutive
electronic triage board. The RA then obtained permission from weeks were missing, the participant was e-mailed regarding
the ED clinician to approach the potential participant in their contact information.
treatment room. If a woman was interested in participating,
informed consent was obtained and an eight-item self-adminis- Control. Upon entering their phone number into our system,
tered screening instrument was completed using a tablet control participants received a series of welcome text messages
computer to minimize social desirability bias in reporting sensi- describing what to expect: “Welcome to the Female Health
tive information [23,24]. To be eligible, patients had to self-report Behavior Study. Look for our text in 12 weeks to complete your
hazardous drinking behavior, based on a score >3 on the three- web-based follow-up.” Each week for 12 weeks, control subjects
item Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption [25]. received the following text message, “Please look for our text in
In addition, eligible women had to report at least one of the X weeks to complete your web-based follow-up,” where [X] was
following: more than 1 male sexual partner in the past 3 months, the number of weeks until study completion. These participants
no condom use at last sexual intercourse, or alcohol/drug use were not asked weekly whether they had engaged in any sexual
B. Suffoletto et al. / Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393 389

risk behaviors nor did they receive messages about any other Analysis
health behaviors.
We compared baseline patient characteristics across control
Follow-up versus intervention exposure, those who completed 3-month
web-based follow-up versus those lost to follow-up and inter-
All participants received a standardized text message 24 hours vention participants who completed at least 50% of weekly SMS
after their final assessment (12-weeks after enrollment) assessments versus not using chi-square tests to examine asso-
prompting them to log into our web site: “Female Health Behavior ciations between categorical variables, t-tests for normally
Study. Log into PittStARSS.org using your phone number to distributed continuous variables, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests
complete follow-up ASAP.” The follow-up questionnaire for variables with nonparametric distributions. These variables
measured alcohol use and sex behaviors using the same items were summarized by calculating frequencies (n) with percent-
from the baseline questionnaire. Intervention group participants ages (%) for categorical data and means and standard deviations
also completed acceptability items. Participants received $10 for (SD) or median and interquartile range (IQR) for count data. Plots
completion of baseline instruments and $20 for completion of the and examination of skewness and kurtosis were used to identify
12-week instruments. evidence of nonnormality for continuous variables. Among
intervention participants, we separately examine the proportion
Outcomes of weekly SMS assessments completed across 12 weeks and
the proportion of participants willing to set a goal through
Feasibility. We examined four feasibility outcomes: (1) the SMS to refrain from having a risky encounter the following
proportion of female ED patients who screened positive for both week, presented as percentages with 95% confidence intervals
hazardous drinking and risky sex behaviors who were willing to (95% CIs). We also examine the proportion of intervention
enroll; (2) the proportion of intervention participants who participants who found the SMS program informative and
completed (all or at least 50% of) weekly SMS risky sex assess- useful, as defined by a score of 6 or 7. We compared the primary
ments; (3) the proportion of intervention participants willing to and secondary behavioral outcomes of interest in those who
set a goal through SMS to refrain from having a risky encounter completed follow-up with chi-square tests. We also examine the
the following week; and (4) the proportion of both the inter- strength of association between treatment condition and
vention and control participants who completed the 3-month behavioral outcomes using logistical regressions. Because of
web-based follow-up. unbalanced baseline risk behaviors between treatment groups,
we include the presence of baseline risk as an independent
Acceptability. We also examined the two acceptability items variable in models. All tests are two-tailed and differences are
completed by Intervention participants only. “How informative considered statistically significant if p  .05. All data were
did you find the text messages?” and “How useful did you find analyzed using STATA 10.0 (Statacorp, Inc).
the text message in improving your sexual health behavior?”
Response options included a 7-point Likert scale (with 1 Results
indicating “not at all” to 7 indicating “completely”). We explored
how many text interactions per week would be most desired/ A total of 392 young adult female ED patients were
acceptable in our population: “How many text message inter- approached over a period of 6 months, with patient flow
actions per week do you think would be most beneficial?” exhibited in Figure 1. Forty-two percent of young adult female
Response options included: none, 1 per month, 1 per week, and ED patients screened positive for both hazardous drinking and
>3 times per week. risky sex behaviors, among whom 51% were excluded from
participation and 15% were not interested in trial participation.
Behavioral. We examined self-reported behavioral outcomes Demographic characteristics and sex risk behavior characteristics
related to sex risk at baseline and follow-up using two single of the sample are shown in Table 1 for the 52 participants
questions and the timeline follow-back (TLFB) method. Single enrolled in the study. All of the participants were sexually active
questions included: “The last time you had sexual intercourse, and heterosexual.
did you or your partner use a condom?” and “Did you drink
alcohol or use drugs before the last time you had sexual inter- Adherence to SMS intervention
course?” The TLFB method is a calendar-based assessment [30] in
which individuals are asked to recall events each day in the In the intervention group, 70% (95% CI 64e75%) of weekly
previous 28 days using holidays as memory triggers, during SMS assessments were completed. The percent of participants
which the following occurred: (1) vaginal sex occurred (yes/no); not completing weekly risk assessments and those reporting
(2) condoms were used (yes/no); and (3) drugs or alcohol were a risky sex encounter across the 12 weeks of exposure are shown
used before sex (yes/no). The TLFB method was also used to in Figure 2. Noncompletion was 12% for week 1, peaked at 50% at
assess binge drinking in the past 28 days with binge drinking week 8, and was 33% on week 12. A total of 39% of intervention
defined as consuming four or more drinks [31]. Primary behav- participants completed all weekly assessments, 74% replied to at
ioral outcomes of interest at 3-month follow-up included the least half of assessments, and only one participant missed all
proportion of participants reporting condom use with last 12 weeks. Compared with those who completed at least 50% of
vaginal sex and the proportion with always protected sex over weekly SMS assessments, those who did not were more likely to
the past 28 days. Secondary behavioral outcomes of interest be of black race (100% vs. 71%), have more frequent alcohol
included the proportion with alcohol or drugs used before last consumption (100% vs. 30% at least weekly drinkers), and were
sex and the proportion with unprotected sex and concurrent more likely to have more than one sexual partner in the past
alcohol use in past 28 days. 3 months (67% vs. 35%).
390 B. Suffoletto et al. / Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393

Figure 1. Participant flow diagram. AUDIT-C ¼ Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption.

There were a total of 23 risky sexual encounters reported condom use with last vaginal sex, the odds of condom use with
among the 23 intervention participants over the 12 weeks, which last vaginal sex at follow-up for intervention participants
is 8.3% of all participant-weeks. There was a range of 0e5 total compared with controls was 2.12 (95% CI 0.52e8.70). In the
weeks reported with a risky encounter and 52% of participants intervention group, there was an increase in the proportion with
did not report any risky sexual encounters over the 12 weeks. always condom use over the past 28 days from 0% (95% CI 0%e
After a reported risky encounter, participants responded to 22%) to 33% (95% CI 12%e62%; p ¼ .01), whereas in the control
a goal-setting query 83% of the time, among which they were group there was no change from 24% (95% CI 8%e47%). Inde-
willing to set a goal to not have another risky encounter in the pendent of baseline always condom use over 28 days, the odds of
coming week 70% of the time. If they were willing to set a goal to always condom use over 28 days at follow-up for intervention
not have a risky encounter the following week, there was participants compared with controls was 1.32 (95% CI 0.31e5.71).
a repeat risky encounter only 29% of the time, whereas if they For the 15 participants in the intervention group who
were not willing to set a goal, they had another risky encounter completed the 3-month follow-up, all reported that they found
100% of the time. the SMS very informative (6/7) and very useful (6/7) in
improving their sexual health behavior. Participants thought
3-Month outcomes that once-weekly SMS interaction was optimal. There were no
reported adverse events associated with any of the interventions
Out of the 52 persons who enrolled in the study, 29 (56%; 95% or study procedures.
CI 41%e70%) completed the 3-month web-based follow-up.
There were no significant differences in the proportion of Discussion
participants completing follow-up by demographics, baseline
sex risk, or treatment condition. For those participants who This study demonstrated that an automated, interactive SMS
completed follow-up, the primary outcomes of interest by program may be useful to track sex risk behavior over time,
exposure are shown in Table 2. Although there were no signifi- deliver sex risk behavioral support messages, and promote goal
cant differences between the sex risk behaviors reported at 3 setting to reduce risk for sexually transmitted diseases among at-
months between control and intervention groups, there were risk young adults being discharged from the ED. Although
significant differences in the change from baseline to 3 months in we were not able to show a statistically significant difference in
sex risk outcomes. In the intervention group, there was an the sex risk outcomes between control and intervention group at
increase in condom use with last vaginal sex from 20% (95% CI 3 months, we were able to show relative positive changes in
4%e48%) to 53% (95% CI 27%e79%; p ¼ .02), whereas in the intervention participants not seen in control participants.
control group there was a decrease from 43% (95% CI 22%e66%) We report a moderate adherence to SMS sex risk assessments
to 38% (95% CI 18%e62%; p ¼ .6). Independent of baseline over 12 weeks, which is similar to a prior study reporting 80%
B. Suffoletto et al. / Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393 391

Table 1 Table 2
Comparison of baseline characteristics and sex risk Change in selected sex behaviors by exposure from baseline to 3-month
follow-up
Variable Intervention Control p
(N ¼ 23) (N ¼ 29) Primary sex behaviors Intervention n ¼ 15 Control n ¼ 21

Age (years), mean (SD) 22 (2) 21 (2) .2 Baseline 3 Change Baseline 3 Change
Black race 18 (78) 16 (55) .1 months months
Hispanic ethnicity 0 3 (10) .2
Condom use with last 3 (20) 8 (53) [5 (33) 9 (43) 8 (38) Y1 (5)
Highest level of education
vaginal sex
<High school 9 (39) 3 (10) .1
Vaginal sex with
High school graduate or GED 5 (21) 10 (35)
condom use in
Some college 7 (30) 11 (38)
past 28 days
College graduate 2 (9) 5 (17)
Always 0 5 (33) [5 (33) 5 (24) 5 (24) 0
Single marital status 22 (96) 28 (97) .9
Sometimes 3 (20) 2 (13) Y4 (7) 4 (19) 7 (43) [3 (24)
Employment
Never 10 (67) 1 (7) Y9 (60) 9 (43) 5 (24) Y4 (19)
Unemployed 8 (35) 6 (21) .6
No sex in past 28 days 2 (13) 7 (46) [5 (33) 3 (14) 9 (43) [6 (29)
Part-time employment 1 (4) 2 (7)
Other risk behavior
Full-time employment 9 (39) 10 (34)
Drugs or alcohol before 7 (47) 4 (27) Y3 (20) 11 (52) 7 (33) Y4 (19)
Student/non-employed 5 (22) 11 (38)
last vaginal sex
Drug use, in last 1 month
Any binge episode in 6 (40) 2 (13) Y4 (27) 9 (43) 8 (38) Y1 (5)
Tobacco 14 (61) 21 (72) .5
past 28 days
Cannabis 9 (39) 17 (59) .3
Any unprotected sex 10 (67) 4 (27) Y7 (40) 8 (38) 2 (10) Y3 (28)
Cocaine 0 0
with concurrent
Prescription stimulants 1 (4) 3 (10) .6
alcohol use in past
Prescription opiates 3 (13) 2 (7) .6
28 days
Others 0 4 (14) .1
Prior history of sexually transmitted infection 12 (52) 18 (62) .6 All values are n (%). No p values were <.05.
Number of sexual partners in past 3 months
1 13 (57) 15 (52) .2
2 6 (26) 13 (45)
may be less likely to use our SMS-based program, suggesting that
>2 4 (17) 1 (3)
Drug or alcohol use prior to last vaginal sex 11 (48) 13 (45) .9 future mobile interventions should be tailored to maximize
Condom use with last vaginal sex 4 (17) 10 (34) .2 interest and ongoing participation in these subgroups.
Days with vaginal sex in last 28 days, median 4 (2,15) 4 (1,10) .9 We were able to show that SMS can be useful to get indi-
(IQR)
viduals to set short-term goals to reduce future sex risk. Goal
Participants with any vaginal sex in last 28 days 19 (83) 26 (90) .5
Condom use
setting has been shown to be effective at promoting behavior
Never 16 (84) 15 (58) .2 change across a number of health conditions [33], but has not
Sometimes 3 (16) 5 (19) been studied specifically in sexual risk behaviors. Based on the
Always 0 6 (23) Social Cognitive Theory [34], an individual can learn to self-
Participants with any unprotected sex and 16 (70) 13 (45) .1
regulate behavior through setting of tangible goals. Based on
concurrent alcohol use in past 28 days
prior work from nonehealth-related industries [35], we
All values are n (%) unless specified otherwise. No p values were <.05. attempted to prompt specific and proximal goals because of their
IQR ¼ interquartile range; SD ¼ standard deviation.
association with better performance than general and distal
goals. Future studies should explore whether behavior priming
completion when young adults were asked similar queries [19]. would be more effective through more specific goal, such as
We asked a single question per week to minimize participant if-then plans (“If situation X arises, then I will perform
burden and improve convenience, which has been highlighted response Y”), also known as implementation intentions [36].
as central importance to young adults when considering SMS as If found to be effective, an SMS-based approach to sex risk
a health promotion tool [32]. We saw a gradual increase in reduction could be easily integrated into standard ED practice.
noncompletion of text messages, suggesting that longer text For example, if a young adult woman was found to have baseline
message programs may face problems with high attrition and/or sex risk behavior during routine care, and if she was interested,
missing data. We also found black participants, those with more she could simply text in to a program to enroll herself. This would
frequent alcohol use, and those with multiple sexual partners free EDs from the cost burden associated with counselor staffing
and provider anxieties about discussing sensitive issues with
patients they do not have time to develop a relationship with.
Alternatively, an SMS program could be the first part in
a stepped-care model where individuals who continue to report
risky sexual behavior after program exposure could be referred
to a trained counselor.

Limitations

Our study has several limitations worth discussing. First, we


were not powered to detect significant differences between
intervention and control group behavioral outcomes. Second,
we had sub-optimal completion of text-message dialog in the
Figure 2. Intervention participants who report risky sex encounters through SMS group over 12 weeks and a high attrition rate overall to
text messaging (SMS) over 12 weeks. 3-month web-based follow-up. Perhaps allowing intervention
392 B. Suffoletto et al. / Journal of Adolescent Health 53 (2013) 387e393

participants to choose the time of weekly dialog would improve screening, and intervention in emergency departments: Consensus-based
recommendations. Acad Emerg Med 2009;16:1096e102.
ongoing participation. Our poor follow-up rate is similar to
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the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Harold Amos Medical
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