Disha Kumar1, Vagish Hemmige2,3, Michael A Kallen4, Richard L Street2,5,6, Thomas P Giordano2,5, Monisha Arya2,5. 1. School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, U.S.A. 2. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, U.S.A. 3. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, 3411 Wayne Avenue, Suite 4H, Bronx, NY 10467, U.S.A. 4. Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 U.S.A. 5. Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe Blvd (Mailstop 152), Houston, TX 77030, U.S.A. 6. Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, 4234 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, U.S.A.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minorities face disparities in receiving the influenza vaccination. A text message intervention could deliver personalized and timely messages to counsel patients on asking their physician for the vaccination. AIMS: We assessed whether patients would be receptive to influenza vaccination text messages. METHODS: Participants were recruited from a sample of low-income, racial and ethnic minority primary care patients. Participants completed a self-administered survey. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: There were 274 patients who participated and answered the questions of interest, of whom 70% were racial and ethnic minorities and 85% owned a cell phone. Thirty-six percent reported they had never received an influenza vaccination recommendation from their physician. However, 84% would be comfortable asking their physician for the influenza vaccination. Of cell phone-owning participants who would be comfortable asking their physician about the influenza vaccination, 80% would also be comfortable receiving a text message reminder. CONCLUSION: Text messages may be an acceptable channel to prompt patients to discuss the annual influenza vaccination with their physicians. Text messaging is a feasible tool to engage patients in their health and improve annual influenza vaccination rates among low-income, racial and ethnic minority patients.
BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minorities face disparities in receiving the influenza vaccination. A text message intervention could deliver personalized and timely messages to counsel patients on asking their physician for the vaccination. AIMS: We assessed whether patients would be receptive to influenza vaccination text messages. METHODS: Participants were recruited from a sample of low-income, racial and ethnic minority primary care patients. Participants completed a self-administered survey. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: There were 274 patients who participated and answered the questions of interest, of whom 70% were racial and ethnic minorities and 85% owned a cell phone. Thirty-six percent reported they had never received an influenza vaccination recommendation from their physician. However, 84% would be comfortable asking their physician for the influenza vaccination. Of cell phone-owning participants who would be comfortable asking their physician about the influenza vaccination, 80% would also be comfortable receiving a text message reminder. CONCLUSION: Text messages may be an acceptable channel to prompt patients to discuss the annual influenza vaccination with their physicians. Text messaging is a feasible tool to engage patients in their health and improve annual influenza vaccination rates among low-income, racial and ethnic minority patients.
Entities:
Keywords:
health communication; healthcare disparities; influenza vaccination; mHealth; minority health; telemedicine; text messaging
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