Coverage and acceptability of mobile phone messages for cancer prevention: a population-based study in a Latin American country

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partners conducted a pilot population-based study in Colombia to assess the feasibility of cancer prevention through the use of mobile telephones (mHealth). The results have been published in the Journal of Cancer Education.

This study assessed dissemination research outcomes (coverage and acceptability), including specific characteristics of the intervention, such as the frequency and timing of messages, the influence of mobile technology (SMS or voice messages), and the willingness to use complementary communication modalities (a webpage), among a randomly selected sample of affiliates to a national health insurance company.

Of almost 800 affiliates contacted, 160 accepted to participate in the study. Although the acceptability of the items evaluated in the study was declared to be high, the gap between the declared acceptability and practice, the low participation rates, and the low willingness to read or listen to messages indicate that mHealth should be part of multicomponent interventions and should not be conceived as the sole intervention.

Murillo R, Ordóñez-Reyes C, Caicedo-Martínez M, Vargas SP, Ariza E, Schüz J, Espina C.
Coverage and acceptability of mobile phone messages for cancer prevention: a population-based study in a Latin American country
J Cancer Educ, Published online 13 November 2020;
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-020-01912-0

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