Patient communication method preference for reminders

Objectives: To report on communication method chosen by 19-26-year-old women enrolled in a study on the effect of reminders on HPV vaccine series completion. Methods: This observational study is a part of a larger randomized controlled trial currently under way. To date, 176 participants have been randomized to the intervention. These participants receive reminders for doses 2 and 3. At enrollment, participants select the type of reminder they would like to receive (automated telephone call, text messaging, e-mail, mail, or private Facebook message). chi-Square tests were used to assess the factors associated with method selection. Results: Text messaging was favored by 49% of women (87/176) as the reminder method. Automated phone call was the second most commonly chosen method (24% of participants). Another 23% selected e-mail. Only 2% chose traditional mail reminders and one individual chose Facebook. Mean age of participants was 22.7. Of the 176 women, 82 (47%) listed their race as white, 41 (23%) as black and 30 (17%) as Hispanic. Just over half (55%) of the women (97 of 176) were uninsured. Neither age, race, nor insurance status affected reminder method selection. Conclusions: Text messaging was overwhelmingly favored by participants. Although phone and e-mail were preferred by some, mail and social media were unpopular. In light of widespread interest in automated reminder systems, providers should consider newer modalities like text messaging. However, considering that only one woman chose Facebook, we conclude that young women may not be comfortable receiving health reminders via social media.