Live phone calls proved the superior method for reminding patients to complete and return at-home colon cancer screening tests compared to text messages and other reminder interventions, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
The study included more than 2,700 safety-net clinic patients aged 50 to 75 years identified as overdue for colon cancer screening in 2015. Clinics sent patients testing kits by mail. Ten percent of patients returned completed test within three weeks. The remaining patients were assigned one of seven interventions: a phone call from a clinic outreach worker, two automated calls, two text messages, a single reminder letter or a combination of different reminders.
Live phone call reminders proved the most effective intervention with 32 percent of patients in this group returning completed test kits within six months. Text message reminders were the least effective method with just 17 percent of these patients mailing back completed tests within six months.
"We knew that these patients are not as text savvy as younger patients, but we didn't expect text messaging to do so poorly, compared to the other strategies," said Gloria Coronado, PhD, lead author and cancer disparities researcher with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. "Our study shows that one reminder intervention doesn't necessarily work for all patients. We need to design interventions tailored to the patient's language and cultural preference."
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