None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study is assessing whether mobile phone SMS messaging alone, and SMS bundles with links to videos, will affect how many people choose to complete the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) test among 49 to 60-year-old general practice patients in Victoria and Queensland. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged between 49 to 60 years, you are eligible to receive the free National Bowel Cancer Screening Program test kit, your GP has agreed to participate in the study and you have access to a smartphone. Study details Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group will receive a single SMS message sent by their GP's practice 2 weeks prior to receiving their NBCSP test kit in the mail. The second group will receive a similar SMS message that also includes web links to a number of resources, including a message from their GP endorsing the free home test kit; an instructional video on how to do the kit; a video of relatable people talking about why it is important to do the kit; and an animation showing how to do the test. The third group will not receive a SMS message but will still receive the NBCSP test kit in the mail. Participants in the third group will be able to discuss the test with their GP as part of their usual care. It is hoped this research will determine whether SMS prompts about completing the NBCSP test kit impact on the number of people choosing to take up the screening test at home, which could increase early detection of bowel cancer.
Interventions
There are two intervention arms: Intervention arm 1 is an 'SMS-only' sent from general practice to patients, Intervention arm 2 is an 'SMS-bundle' - an SMS with additional video material sent from general practice to patients. The study is a cluster randomised controlled trial with the cluster unit being individual general practices. The intervention will be sent from general practices using an SMS service 'GoShare' depending on the cluster that the general practice has been randomised into. The
There are two intervention arms: Intervention arm 1 is an 'SMS-only' sent from general practice to patients, Intervention arm 2 is an 'SMS-bundle' - an SMS with additional video material sent from general practice to patients. The study is a cluster randomised controlled trial with the cluster unit being individual general practices. The intervention will be sent from general practices using an SMS service 'GoShare' depending on the cluster that the general practice has been randomised into. The SMS-only/SMS-bundle will be sent to eligible patients two weeks prior to when their National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) kit is due to arrive. The participants will only be sent one SMS-only or SMS-bundle. 1. The SMS-only is sent from a patient's general practice is to prompt patients to do the NBCSP kit. The SMS contains a greeting and the patient's first name, general practice name and telephone number, a GP endorsement of the NBCSP and the option to 'opt-out' of receiving future SMS. The wording in the SMS is: 'Hi [insert patient first name]. Your free bowel cancer screening kit will arrive in the post soon. [insert general practice name] strongly encourages you to do this test. Call us on [insert general practice telephone number] if you have any questions. Reply STOP to opt out'. 2. The SMS-bundle is the SMS as described above, but with an web link to a GP message with the general practice logo and endorsing the NBCSP, a video of relatable people talking about why it is important to do the kit (approx 30 seconds long), an instructional video on how to do the kit (approx 45 seconds long), and a link to more information about the NBCSP. The wording is: 'Hi [insert patient first name]. Your free bowel cancer screening kit will arrive in the post soon. [insert general practice name] strongly encourages you to do this test. We also recommend you watch these videos [weblink to videos inserted here]. Call us on [insert general practice telephone number] if you have any questions. Reply STOP to opt out'. The intervention will be conducted from general practice and run for 6 months. The amount of people who opened the weblink and if they watched the videos will be recorded and we will follow up at a later time (not included in this protocol) with interviews with participants about whether or not they read the message etc. We have qualitative data for the previous pilot about the adherence to the intervention and we have modified the SMS-bundle accordingly - mainly making it shorter and modifying the content.
Sponsors
University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
49 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
General practice eligibility criteria: • Practices have to be located either in Queensland or Victoria - we will randomise by remoteness using the Modified Monash Model to ensure all trial arms are equivalent (Metropolitan areas, regional centres, large, medium and small rural towns, and remote communities). • Practices use electronic medical records (EMR) software compatible with and can host the NCSR (Best Practice, Medical Director 3/4). • Have at least 2 full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs working in their general practice. • Have a practice manager (or delegate) who is happy to champion the trial in the general practice throughout the time of the trial. • Practices are willing to download the National Cancer Screening Register application onto their computer system. • Practices agree for the researchers to train clinic staff to generate lists of eligible patients and populate these lists with the date the NBCSP kit is due in batches through a secure and encrypted process directly from the NCSR. • All GPs agree to their eligible patients receiving the 'SMS only' or the 'SMS bundle' (randomisation happens after consent). • Practices agree for the researchers to train practice staff to upload (once) the patient lists to the GoShare secure platform for automated SMS sending. Patient inclusion criteria: • Attend a participating general practice • Aged between 49 and 60 years old who have been in touch with the practice three or more times in the previous two years. • Due to receive a NBCSP kit during the time the intervention is being conducted • Have not had a bowel cancer diagnosis • Have not opted out of receiving and SMS
Exclusion criteria
Key exclusion criteria: People will be eligible if: - they are aged between 49 and 60 years old during the trial period, - they are a regular patient at a general practice recruited into the trial (defined by their patient file having been opened at least three times in the previous two years), - they have a mobile phone number recorded in the practice, - they have a Medicare number recorded in the practice, - they have not opted out of receiving SMS from their practice, - they do not have a diagnosis of CRC in their EHR. 2) Assessed at the National Cancer Screening Register. People identified as eligible in the general practice records will be linked with NCSR records and remain eligible for the trial if: - they have matching record in the NCSR database, - they are due to receive their NBCSP kit within the trial period, People will be excluded if: - their record extracted from the general practice EHR does not match with the records in the NCSR database, - they have a diagnosis of CRC recorded in their NCSR record, - they have opted out from receiving the NBCSP kit, as recorded in their NCSR record, - they have put their NBCSP kit on hold, as recorded in their NCSR record, - they have died, as recorded in their NCSR record, - they are not due for screening because they have had a recent colonoscopy, as recorded in their NCSR record, and/or - they are not due for screening because they have had a recent FIT elsewhere, as recorded in their NCSR record.
Outcome results
None listed