Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Short message service reduces dropout in childhood obesity treatment: a randomized controlled trial.
Lifestyle programs can reduce the level of overweight in children; however, maintenance results and adherence to treatment are difficult to achieve. New technologies, such as the Short Message Service (SMS), might be a promising tool for enhancing interventions. The effect of an SMS approach aimed at improving treatment results and reducing dropout rates in a pediatric lifestyle intervention, is explored. ⋯ These results indicate that SMSMT is effective in reducing dropout rates from a pediatric lifestyle intervention. Future research should examine the effectiveness of SMSMT on weight management and related psychosocial variables.