I wrote earlier this year about how text messages can be crucial in supporting behavior change in healthcare campaigns.

In one of the weight loss studies for instance, participants who received SMS related reminders experienced seven times the weight loss of those who received no such reminders.  Such findings appeared common across studies involving weight loss.

A recent study from Johns Hopkins University reinforces the value text messages can play in healthcare.  It looked at the performance of people looking to improve their fitness levels, and the role text message support played in the process.

“Think of these messages as digital check-ins from your physician, gently but persistently reminding you to fit more exercise into your day,” the authors say. “The strategy appears to work.”

Tacking + support

The authors wanted to test the various mobile apps that allow us to track and monitor our activity levels, and specifically whether these were motivation enough on their own, or whether a degree of support can help still further.

The data revealed that participants who received text based support were twice as likely to reach their fitness goal than those who received no such support.

Suffice to say, the participants were only tracked for a relatively short space of time, and the numbers were relatively low, but there are clear moves towards having coach type support included in fitness apps.

For instance, the Moov device offers wearers the usual data associated with fitness devices, but also an AI ‘coach’ that offers suggestions for improvement based upon the data.

There are also shorts/tights that offer a similar level of tracking, so there is a clear move towards having smarter fitness tracking, which suggests that the results of this small trial are certainly along the right lines.

“Our results suggest that harnessing smart technology into clinical efforts could catalyze behavioral changes that have the potential to reduce disease risk and shape health,” the authors say. “If sustained long term, the clinical impact of such changes could be rather dramatic.”