IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0004376.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Text message reminders for visit adherence among non-communicable disease patients in Haiti: A pilot study

Author

Listed:
  • Calixte Dawson
  • Sarah M Morris
  • Evyrna Toussaint
  • Darius Léopold Fénelon
  • Bolanle Banigbe
  • Gene F Kwan

Abstract

Clinic appointment compliance is a challenge to care continuity for people with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) globally. Short-message-service (SMS) text reminders have improved attendance in several settings but have not been tested in Haiti. This pilot study of an SMS reminder strategy to improve clinic attendance for NCD patients in Central Haiti assessed the feasibility and acceptability the messages. We included patients in the NCD clinic – adults with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and heart failure; and children/young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) – at Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais. Patients with appointments between December 13-22, 2021, were sent SMS reminders 3 days and 1 day before their visit. Patients completed a survey at their appointment evaluating the usefulness, acceptability, and feasibility of the reminders. We assessed barriers to receiving the SMS and how they influence clinic attendance. Ninety-six patients had a scheduled appointment during the study period. SMS reminders were sent to all patients with recorded phone numbers (91.2%). 72 patients (75%) attended their visit. Half of those who attended their visit received the SMS. Of these patients, 100% liked the reminder, 97.2% wanted to receive future messages, and 22.2% reported they would not have attended their visit without the reminder. Of the 36 patients who did not receive the SMS, 38.9% changed their phone number while 33.3% did not have access to a phone. Barriers to receiving the SMS were inconsistent cellular signal (25%) and lack of access to a phone (22%). Sending SMS reminders was feasible and acceptable to NCD patients. The messages were universally liked by the patients and positively influenced the decision of some to attend their visit. Barriers to uptake include updating phone numbers and access to phones. If implemented at scale, SMS reminders may improve appointment attendance in rural Haiti for those with mobile phones.

Suggested Citation

  • Calixte Dawson & Sarah M Morris & Evyrna Toussaint & Darius Léopold Fénelon & Bolanle Banigbe & Gene F Kwan, 2025. "Text message reminders for visit adherence among non-communicable disease patients in Haiti: A pilot study," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(4), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0004376
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004376
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0004376
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0004376&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004376?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0004376. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.