Reply to: A new study on text messaging to improve adherence to HIV medication
Hi Lawrence,
Your study in Cameroon was very insightful. Recently in mHealth discussions with the mHealth regional leaders, and even in some press, there was concern that this study undermines the previous evidence that SMS can improve ART adherence in Africa. This is a misunderstanding of science. Your study was very valuable in providing some insight (into a very field that is very eager for positive outcomes) that the details of mHealth interventions are indeed critical to the outcomes they intend to influence. mHealth is not one size fits all, we wouldn't expect it to be. Adherence behavious are very complex and we would expect the details of communications to be very important in the types of behavior change they may or may not elicit. Changing one word or meaning may alter effectiveness.
Your study clearly illustrated the need for specific studies on specific interventions to prove if they are effective or not. Just like other fields of therapeutics or interventions, comparative effectiveness studies are required. Clearly one antibiotic is not equal to another just because a study showed antibiotic A is efficacious against disease A. Only once sufficient numbers of quality studies emerge will we be able to find common threads among (or broad stokes about) what effective mHealth interventions look like. Until then, each mHealth intervention should be seeking its own effectiveness evidence.
Your work is well done.
Rich
By Richard Lester on Fri, 8 Feb 2013 10:55:18 -0500
