BACKGROUND: The aim of this review was to investigate the impact of short message service (SMS)-based interventions on childhood and adolescent vaccine coverage and timeliness.
METHODS: A pre-defined search strategy was used to identify all relevant publications up until July 2022 from electronic databases. Reports of randomised trials written in English and involving children and adolescents less than 18 years old were included. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.
RESULTS: Thirty randomised trials were identified. Most trials were conducted in high-income countries. There was marked heterogeneity between studies. SMS-based interventions were associated with small to moderate improvements in vaccine coverage and timeliness compared to no SMS reminder. Reminders with embedded education or which were combined with monetary incentives performed better than simple reminders in some settings.
CONCLUSIONS: Some SMS-based interventions appear effective for improving child vaccine coverage and timeliness in some settings. Future studies should focus on identifying which features of SMS-based strategies, including the message content and timing, are determinants of effectiveness.

It is urgent to implement interventions to increase vaccination rates of influenza/pneumonia vaccines in older adults, yet the effectiveness of different intervention strategies has not been thoroughly evaluated.
We aimed to assess the effectiveness of intervention strategies for increasing the coverage of influenza/pneumonia vaccination in older adults.
PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Biology Medicine disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang were searched from 1 January 2000 to 1 October 2022. RCTs that assessed any intervention strategies for increasing influenza/pneumonia vaccination coverage or willingness in older adults were included. A series of random-effects network meta-analysis was conducted by using frequentist frameworks.
Twenty-two RCTs involving 385,182 older participants were eligible for further analysis. Eight types of intervention strategies were evaluated. Compared with routine notification, health education (odds ratio [OR], 1.85 [95%CI, 1.19 to 2.88]), centralised reminder (OR, 1.63 [95%CI, 1.07 to 2.47]), health education + onsite vaccination (OR, 2.89 [95%CI, 1.30 to 6.39]), and health education + centralised reminder + onsite vaccination (OR, 20.76 [95%CI, 7.33 to 58.74]) could effectively improve the vaccination rate. The evidence grade was low or very low due to the substantial heterogeneity among studies.
Our findings suggest that health education + centralised reminder + onsite vaccination may potentially be an effective strategy regardless of cost, but the evidence level was low. More rigorous trials are needed to identify the association between strategies and vaccination rates among older adults and to integrate such evidence into clinical care to improve vaccination rates.

BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to long-term medication increases the risk of morbidity and mortality and decreases the quality of life of patients with hypertension. One strategy to improve treatment adherence is to use a short text message reminder. Although evidence indicates that such programs increase medication adherence, the extent of their effectiveness and translation into clinical practice needs to be better documented. Our systematic review will collect and analyze the available evidence for clinical practice implementation. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of short mobile phone text message reminders versus usual/standard care for medication adherence in patients with hypertension.
METHODS: This review will include and summarize evidence from randomized controlled trials. Adults (age > 18 years) with hypertension. The comparator group received either the usual care or standard care. It encompasses standard medical care for patients not participating in a structured and supervised intervention program such as a telemedicine program. We will include studies that assess the effectiveness of short mobile phone text message reminders in improving medication adherence in patients with hypertension compared to usual care. We will search the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Cochrane Library Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cochrane Library. We will include studies published in English. Furthermore, we will consider studies published from the inception of the database until April 20, 2024. At least two reviewers will independently conduct study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. A third reviewer will determine and resolve discrepancies. We will conduct a quality assessment using the ROBIS 2 critical appraisal checklist. At least two independent reviewers will crosscheck the data synthesis.
CONCLUSIONS: We expect this review to provide current evidence for future studies and clinical practice concerning the impact of mobile phone text message reminders on medication adherence issues. We will publish our results in a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
BACKGROUND: PROSPERO CRD42023391236.

BACKGROUND: Adherence is often a barrier to curative treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). There have been numerous interventions focused on increasing TB treatment adherence in Southeast Asia, but it is unclear if they are effective. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compile and evaluate the literature on interventions designed to increase TB treatment adherence in Southeast Asia.
METHODS: We searched Cochrane Library Reviews (CDSR) and Cochrane Library Trials (CENTRAL), Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science from 2000 to 2022 with no language restrictions. We included studies of any design conducted in Southeast Asia that implemented interventions to increase treatment completion in people diagnosed with TB and assessed completion as an outcome. We did not require a control group. Four investigators used a standardized data collection form to collate results. The heterogeneity across studies was explored by I2 statistics. We assessed bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Cochrane ROB 2.0. We used a random effects meta-analysis to calculate a pooled risk ratio with 95% confidence intervals.
RESULTS: From 1881 abstracts, we included 14 articles. There were 7198 subjects with 3163 (44%) receiving a TB treatment adherence intervention across eight countries. Interventions included directly observed therapy, text-message reminders, food incentives, and more. The risk ratio, derived from the meta-analysis of eight included studies with a control group and 6618 participants overall, was 1.04 (95% CI 1.01,1.08; I2 = 29%), favoring the interventions over controls with little concern for heterogeneity or risk of bias. When narratively assessed, the other six studies all reported increased adherence in the intervention group.
CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested there is a small, statistically significant benefit of using interventions to promote TB treatment completion. Future research could look at additional strategies and combinations of strategies to promote adherence.

BACKGROUND: Given the health benefits of breastfeeding for infants and mothers, breastfeeding has become a significant public health issue. The global growth of mobile phone usage has created new options for breastfeeding promotion, including text messaging.
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of text messaging interventions on breastfeeding outcomes and to identify the efficacy moderators of such interventions.
METHODS: Ten electronic databases were searched from the inception of the databases to 5 July 2023. Studies were included if they used randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs to evaluate the effect of text messaging interventions on breastfeeding outcomes. Two reviewers screened the included studies, assessed the risk of bias, and extracted the data. Pooled results were obtained by the random-effects model, and subgroup analyses were conducted on intervention characteristics to identify potential moderators. The protocol of this study was registered on PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022371311).
RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included. Text messaging interventions could improve the exclusive breastfeeding rate (at <3 months: OR = 2.04; 95 % CI: 1.60-2.60, P < 0.001; at 3-6 months: OR = 1.66; 95 % CI: 1.18-2.33, P = 0.004; at ≥6 months: OR = 2.13; 95 % CI: 1.47-3.08, P < 0.001), and the breastfeeding self-efficacy (SMD = 0.30, 95 % CI: 0.14-0.45, P < 0.001). Text messaging interventions that covered antenatal and postnatal periods, delivered weekly were most effective in improving the exclusive breastfeeding rate.
CONCLUSIONS: Text messaging interventions may improve breastfeeding practice compared with no or general health information. We suggest text messaging conducted from the pre- to postnatal periods in a weekly manner can effectively increase exclusive breastfeeding rates and breastfeeding self-efficacy. Further studies should investigate the relation between new theories (such as the health action process approach and the theory of message-framing) and efficacy of breastfeeding interventions, using text components.

UNASSIGNED: To present the latest available research assessing the actual impact of reminder and guidance technologies for daily activities in Alzheimer\'s Disease and Related Dementia\'s patients, outlining design implications for these technologies.
UNASSIGNED: The search was conducted in the ACM Digital Library, IEEExplore, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Sage Journal, ResearchGate, and SemanticScholar. An iteratively-developed Boolean search string was built including up to 18 AND/OR terms across Four categories (Memory Aids, Technology, Daily Activities, Memory Impairment). We qualitatively analyzed the findings and discussions of the findings reported in 40 studies in our corpus to determine common barriers to, and facilitators of, effective intervention implementation and adoption.
UNASSIGNED: Forty studies fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In existing studies, individuals with Alzheimer\'s Disease and Related Dementias understand the usefulness of different functions that can be provided within an app to assist with everyday tasks. There was a high level of heterogeneity regarding the studies\' location, duration, and evaluation methodology.
UNASSIGNED: There is a need for assistive reminder and guidance technologies to be tailored towards autonomy, identity and personalization. Future work should include motivating features to aid during mood changes and feelings of insecurity.
In existing studies, older adults with cognitive impairment understand the usefulness of different functions that can be provided within an app to assist with everyday tasks.There is a high level of heterogeneity regarding the studies’ location, duration, and evaluation methodology.There is ample need for these reminder technologies to be tailored towards autonomy, identity and personalization.Future work should include motivating features to aid during mood changes and feelings of insecurity.

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision support (CDS) alerts and reminders aim to influence clinical decisions, yet they are often designed without considering human decision-making behaviour. While this behaviour is comprehensively described by behavioural economics (BE), the sheer volume of BE literature poses a challenge to designers when identifying behavioural effects with utility to alert and reminder designs. This study tackles this challenge by focusing on the MINDSPACE framework for behaviour change, which collates nine behavioural effects that profoundly influence human decision-making behaviour: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Defaults, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitment, and Ego.
METHODS: A systematic review searching MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL Plus to explore (i) the usage of MINDSPACE effects in alert and reminder designs and (ii) the efficacy of those alerts and reminders in influencing clinical decisions. The search queries comprised ten Boolean searches, with nine focusing on the MINDSPACE effects and one focusing on the term mindspace.
RESULTS: 50 studies were selected from 1791 peer-reviewed journal articles in English from 1970 to 2022. Except for ego, eight of nine MINDSPACE effects were utilised to design alerts and reminders, with defaults and norms utilised the most in alerts and reminders, respectively. Overall, alerts and reminders informed by MINDSPACE effects showed an average 71% success rate in influencing clinical decisions (alerts 73%, reminders 69%). Most studies utilised a single effect in their design, with higher efficacy for alerts (64%) than reminders (41%). Others utilised multiple effects, showing higher efficacy for reminders (28%) than alerts (9%).
CONCLUSIONS: This review presents sufficient evidence demonstrating the MINDSPACE framework\'s merits for designing CDS alerts and reminders with human decision-making considerations. The framework can adequately address challenges in identifying behavioural effects pertinent to the effective design of CDS alerts and reminders. The review also identified opportunities for future research into other relevant effects (e.g., framing).

BACKGROUND: Globally, type 2 diabetes has become increasing. As little is known about the effect of educational intervention on this population, this systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of mobile phone text message reminders versus usual care to improve medication adherence among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.
METHODS: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and African Journals Online, were searched. A random-effects model was employed to estimate combined effect sizes. Subgroup analyses were employed to investigate possible sources of heterogeneity between studies. The overall certainty of the evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.
RESULTS: A total of 9 trials with 1,121 participants were included in the review. The pooled estimated impact of mobile phone text message reminders on medication adherence was (SMD: 0.36; 95%CI; 0.14, 0.59) compared to usual care groups among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In addition, subgroup analyses revealed greater medication adherence levels in those studies with intervention durations of more than six months and with self-report/refill adherence scale measurement (SMD: 0.21; 95%CI: 0.02, 0.40) and (SMD: 0.45; 95%CI: 0.22, 0.68), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Mobile phone text messages can potentially lead to improved medication adherence levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes despite heterogeneity across the studies. Therefore, mobile phone text messaging when delivered in addition to usual care, have the potential to produce significant improvements in medication adherence.

OBJECTIVE: Patients frequently miss their medical appointments. Therefore, short message service (SMS) has been used as a strategy for medical and healthcare service appointment reminders. This systematic review aimed to identify barriers to SMS appointment reminders across African regions.
METHODS: PubMed, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar and Web of Science were used for searching, and hand searching was done. Original studies written in English, conducted in Africa, and published since 1 December 2018, were included. The standard quality assessment checklist was used for the quality appraisal of the included studies. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart diagram was used for study selection and screening, and any disagreements were resolved via discussions.
RESULTS: A total of 955 articles were searched, 521 studies were removed due to duplication and 105 studies were assessed for eligibility. Consequently, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Five out of nine included studies were done by randomised control trials. The barriers that hampered patients, mothers and other parental figures of children when they were notified via SMS of medical and health services were identified. Among the 11 identified barriers, illiteracy, issues of confidentiality, familiarised text messages, inadequate information communication technology infrastructure, being a rural resident and loss of mobile phones occurred in at least two studies.
CONCLUSIONS: SMS is an effective and widely accepted appointment reminder tool. However, it is hampered by numerous barriers. Hence, we gathered summarised information about users\' barriers to SMS-based appointment reminders. Therefore, stakeholders should address existing identified barriers for better Mhealth interventions.
UNASSIGNED: CRD42022296559.

OBJECTIVE: Missed appointments within the National Health Service (NHS) are a drain on resources, associated with not only considerable time and cost implications, but also sub-optimal health outcomes. This literature review aims to explore non-attendance within the NHS in relation to causes, impacts and possible mitigation of negative effects of missed appointments.
METHODS: MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus and PubMed were searched with a date range of 2016-2021. Databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English addressing non-attendance of adults within the NHS. Studies were excluded if they were theoretical papers, dissertations or research concerning patients aged under 18. A total of 21 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis.
RESULTS: The results indicate a significant association of non-attendance and poor health outcomes. Patients from a lower socioeconomic status, adults aged over 85 and those with multiple co-morbidities are more likely to miss appointments. The most commonly reported patient-centred reasons for failing to attend were forgetfulness, transportation difficulties, and family commitments. Practice-specific reasons were cited as inefficiencies of the appointment booking system, failure of traditional reminders and inconvenient timings. Interventions included text reminder services, the inclusion of costs within reminders and enhanced patient involvement with the booking process.
CONCLUSIONS: Non-attendance is complex, and to secure maximum attendance, targeted interventions are required by healthcare facilities to ensure patient needs are met. The adaption of scheduling systems and healthcare services can assist in reducing DNA rates.