How adolescents use SMS (short message service) to micro-coordinate contact with youth mental health outreach services

Gareth V. Furber; Ann E. Crago; Kevin Meehan; Tom D. Sheppard; Ken Hooper; Dorothy T. Abbot; Stephen Allison; Clive Skene

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.05.022

How adolescents use SMS (short message service) to micro-coordinate contact with youth mental health outreach services

Gareth V. Furber, Ann E. Crago, Kevin Meehan, Tom D. Sheppard, Ken Hooper, Dorothy T. Abbot, Stephen Allison, Clive Skene

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Mobile phones play a central role in the lives of young people and are being increasingly recognized as valuable tools in health care. However, there is a paucity of studies exploring the use of mobile phones in youth outreach mental health services. Our outreach team's experience is that enabling youth to access their therapist directly through mobile phone improves engagement and retention, and short message service (SMS) in particular, is a useful tool for coordinating appointments. The purpose of this study was to audit the content of SMS exchanges between therapists and clients and to investigate the extent of inappropriate SMS use. Method: An audit of SMS messages sent and received from an outreach youth mental health service was conducted over a 7-month period. Results: The majority of SMS traffic sent to and received from clients was micro-coordinating face-to-face-meetings (76% and 61%, respectively), reflecting a practical real-time use of SMS. Only a small proportion of the client use of SMS was classified as inappropriate (2%). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that mobile phones and SMS can be used as a safe, practical way of maintaining contact and coordinating meetings within a youth outreach service. Crown copyright

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	113-115
Number of pages	3
Journal	Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume	48
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.05.022
Publication status	Published - Jan 2011
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Appointments
Cell phone
Mental health
Mobile phone
Outreach
SMS
Youth

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10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.05.022Licence: In Copyright

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title = "How adolescents use SMS (short message service) to micro-coordinate contact with youth mental health outreach services",

abstract = "Background: Mobile phones play a central role in the lives of young people and are being increasingly recognized as valuable tools in health care. However, there is a paucity of studies exploring the use of mobile phones in youth outreach mental health services. Our outreach team's experience is that enabling youth to access their therapist directly through mobile phone improves engagement and retention, and short message service (SMS) in particular, is a useful tool for coordinating appointments. The purpose of this study was to audit the content of SMS exchanges between therapists and clients and to investigate the extent of inappropriate SMS use. Method: An audit of SMS messages sent and received from an outreach youth mental health service was conducted over a 7-month period. Results: The majority of SMS traffic sent to and received from clients was micro-coordinating face-to-face-meetings (76% and 61%, respectively), reflecting a practical real-time use of SMS. Only a small proportion of the client use of SMS was classified as inappropriate (2%). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that mobile phones and SMS can be used as a safe, practical way of maintaining contact and coordinating meetings within a youth outreach service. Crown copyright",

keywords = "Appointments, Cell phone, Mental health, Mobile phone, Outreach, SMS, Youth",

author = "Furber, {Gareth V.} and Crago, {Ann E.} and Kevin Meehan and Sheppard, {Tom D.} and Ken Hooper and Abbot, {Dorothy T.} and Stephen Allison and Clive Skene",

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language = "English",

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AU - Crago, Ann E.

AU - Meehan, Kevin

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AU - Hooper, Ken

AU - Abbot, Dorothy T.

AU - Allison, Stephen

AU - Skene, Clive

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N2 - Background: Mobile phones play a central role in the lives of young people and are being increasingly recognized as valuable tools in health care. However, there is a paucity of studies exploring the use of mobile phones in youth outreach mental health services. Our outreach team's experience is that enabling youth to access their therapist directly through mobile phone improves engagement and retention, and short message service (SMS) in particular, is a useful tool for coordinating appointments. The purpose of this study was to audit the content of SMS exchanges between therapists and clients and to investigate the extent of inappropriate SMS use. Method: An audit of SMS messages sent and received from an outreach youth mental health service was conducted over a 7-month period. Results: The majority of SMS traffic sent to and received from clients was micro-coordinating face-to-face-meetings (76% and 61%, respectively), reflecting a practical real-time use of SMS. Only a small proportion of the client use of SMS was classified as inappropriate (2%). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that mobile phones and SMS can be used as a safe, practical way of maintaining contact and coordinating meetings within a youth outreach service. Crown copyright

AB - Background: Mobile phones play a central role in the lives of young people and are being increasingly recognized as valuable tools in health care. However, there is a paucity of studies exploring the use of mobile phones in youth outreach mental health services. Our outreach team's experience is that enabling youth to access their therapist directly through mobile phone improves engagement and retention, and short message service (SMS) in particular, is a useful tool for coordinating appointments. The purpose of this study was to audit the content of SMS exchanges between therapists and clients and to investigate the extent of inappropriate SMS use. Method: An audit of SMS messages sent and received from an outreach youth mental health service was conducted over a 7-month period. Results: The majority of SMS traffic sent to and received from clients was micro-coordinating face-to-face-meetings (76% and 61%, respectively), reflecting a practical real-time use of SMS. Only a small proportion of the client use of SMS was classified as inappropriate (2%). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that mobile phones and SMS can be used as a safe, practical way of maintaining contact and coordinating meetings within a youth outreach service. Crown copyright

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How adolescents use SMS (short message service) to micro-coordinate contact with youth mental health outreach services

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