Comparing Gain and Loss Framed Message Texting (SMS) on Foot Self-Care Behaviors Among Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Background: The effectiveness of the educational message for motivating to change behavior may be greater than the actual content of a message, depending on how the message is designed. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of gain and loss messages via SMS mobile phone on foot self-care behaviors in women with Type 2 diabetes who were referred to the Ahwaz diabetic clinic. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial study, 189 Type 2 diabetes patients were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly divided into 3 exp. groups and cont. group. Two experimental groups received gain and loss educational message of foot care behaviors via mobile phone short message service for 2 months. Research data were collected through interviews using demographic and disease characteristics questionnaires and the summary of diabetes self-care activities were measured. The collected data were analyzed by using the SPSS 16 software, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Chi-square at the level of 0.05 significance. Results: Before the intervention disease characteristics, individual variables and the average score of foot care behaviors of the study groups were similar. After the intervention, a significant increase occurred in the mean score foot care in experimental groups (P = 0.001). It was also shown that this increase in loss framed message group is significantly more than the gain message group (P = 0.01). Conclusions: According to the results, designing and implementing educational programs based on mobile phone short message service and loss framed messages could improve foot- care behaviors in diabetic patients.