Use of Text Messaging to Educate Family Caregivers of Children With Asthma.
Chen Wang, Cynthia Foronda, Karina A Gattamorta and 1 others
PMID 39921613WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers who received three weeks of asthma text messages scored higher on a 17-to-85 knowledge test, but only eight completed both surveys.
Confidence scores did not change clearly, and satisfaction was high among the 12 who answered.
Key findings
01Caregiver asthma knowledge scores rose from 56.8 before the messages to 63.9 after on a 17-to-85 scale among the eight who completed both surveys.
02Caregiver confidence scores were 4.43 before and 4.57 after on a 1-to-5 agreement scale among seven caregivers, and the change was not statistically significant.
03Among the 12 caregivers who completed the satisfaction survey, 91.7% said they read the messages daily, and all were satisfied with message length and content.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The project was a quality improvement pilot with no control group, so changes cannot be separated from time, clinic visits, or having an asthma action plan. Only 19 caregivers were enrolled, and only 8 completed both knowledge surveys, 7 completed both confidence surveys, and 12 completed the satisfaction survey. No power analysis was done, so the study could not reliably detect meaningful changes. The confidence and satisfaction questionnaires were created by the project team and not tested for reliability or validity. Caregivers who did not complete surveys may have differed from those who did; nonresponders may have been less satisfied, less knowledgeable, or less confident. Messages were only in English and Spanish, so Creole-speaking caregivers were excluded. The clinics served a low-income, underserved pediatric population, which limits generalization to other settings. Recruitment period was short (about 1 month), limiting sample size.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The project was partially supported by the University of Miami and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that text messaging improves caregiver confidence or child asthma outcomes. The study had no control group, only eight caregivers completed the knowledge test, and the confidence change was not statistically significant.