The Design, Usability, and Feasibility of a Family-Focused Diabetes Self-Care Support mHealth Intervention for Diverse, Low-Income Adults with Type 2 Diabetes
Table 1
FAMS intervention components and description.
Component
Description
Patient participants
Phone coaching
Each session includes the following: (i) Goal setting: identify a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) diet or exercise goal (ii) Discussing helpful & harmful family actions: identify and differentiate between family members’ helpful and harmful actions related to the SMART goal (iii) Skill building: complete exercises in relation to a specific wanted helpful action or unwanted harmful action and confirm comprehension via role playing or teaching back (iv) Verbal contract: make a plan to employ the skill with a specific family member and assess participant’s self-efficacy to do so
Patient participants
Text messages
Goal support messages: one-way texts with tips and motivational content tailored to the SMART goal set during phone coaching: (i) 2 texts each week are not tailored to goal type Changing your lifestyle isn’t easy, but small steps matter! Reaching your SMART goal today can add up to big improvements! (ii) 1 text each week is tailored to the participant’s goal type (diet or exercise) Many people forget about their diet goals around holidays or vacations. Plan ahead and prepare for these changes in your daily routine. Work your SMART exercise goal into your day. Exercise while doing other things like talking on the phone or watching TV. The one-way text is sent within users’ preferred window of time (the exact time varies within this window)
Goal assessment messages: Each Saturday, participants receive a two-way/interactive text tailored to their goal Your goal was to walk 15 minutes each day. How many days did you meet this goal last week (Sun-Sat)? Reply with the number of days, 0–7. (i) Participant’s response is followed by a feedback text, tailored to the response Excellent progress! Consider what motivated you to do better this week than in weeks before. Keep up your good work!
Support persons
Invitation
Participants can choose to invite an adult family member or friend to receive text messages (i) Participants who invite a support person provide his/her first name and phone number (ii) Support person must be English-speaking and own a cell phone (iii) Study staff calls the support person to invite him/her to participate, complete informed consent, enroll via phone
Support persons
Text messages
Each week, enrolled support persons receive 3 one-way texts with content tailored to the patient participant’s selected goal, name, gender Bob has set a goal to improve his diet. Ask him about it the next time you speak to him. (i) 2 texts each week are not tailored to goal type Often we want to help our loved ones with their health but don’t know how. Ask Bob what you can do to make it easier for him to reach his goal. (ii) 1 text each week is tailored to the patient participant’s goal type (diet or exercise) Be sensitive about eating treats in front of Bob as it may tempt or make him feel left out. Instead, choose treats you can enjoy together. Dancing is the most fun exercise you can do at home. Help Bob meet his exercise goal by putting on his favorite jam and starting a 2 person party! The one-way texts are sent at the support person’s preferred time of day
