title: Text messaging interventions for individuals with mental health disorders including substance use: A systematic review.
abstract: We completed a systematic review of the literature to characterize the impact of text messaging interventions on medication adherence or mental health related outcomes in people with mental health disorders including substance use. Four electronic databases were searched from January 1999 to October 2015. Seven studies met our inclusion criteria: three studies evaluated text messaging in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, two studies evaluated text messaging in patients with chronic alcohol dependence, and two studies reviewed text messaging in patients with mood disorders. Six studies were randomized controlled trials and one was a prospective pilot study with pre-post intervention design. Text messaging frequency ranged from once weekly to twelve per day. The effect of text messaging on medication adherence was measured in five studies; one study reporting significant improvements in the text messaging intervention group. The effect of text messaging on mental health related outcomes was measured in all seven studies, with five studies showing significant improvements in a variety of psychiatric and social functioning assessments. Collectively, these studies suggest text messaging is a promising tool to support management of patients with mental illness. Further research examining theory-based text messaging interventions in larger samples of patients is required.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3-171 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, University of Alberta, 11405-87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 1C9.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3-171 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, University of Alberta, 11405-87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 1C9.
authors.forename: Scot
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3-171 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, University of Alberta, 11405-87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 1C9. Electronic address: christine.hughes@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008603:Mental Health; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D060145:Text Messaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Alcohol use disorder; Anxiety disorder; Bipolar disorder; Depression; Medication adherence; Mental health; Schizophrenia; Text message