Continuing my series of public Q&A sessions, I’ll share the following:
We are working on an innovation concept paper to a local foundation and would like to explore how to better use social media and SMS at youth-focused sexual health clinic. We need to be able clearly articulate the benefits of social media and SMS for health care access for youth and young adults. I hope you can provide some resources that may be able to help.
I began with basics:
Pew Internet Trend Data: Adults
Pew Internet Trend Data: Teens
Digging deeper:
The most recent report on Teens and Technology and the most recent in-depth report on Health Online.
And finally, some blog posts relating most closely to your inquiry:
The State of New Media and HIV
Health, Technology, and Communities of Color
You might consider texting as a mode of communication – don’t miss the discussion in the comments on this post:
Is there hope for SMS health alerts?
(Now it’s your turn: what would YOU share? What advice do you have for this newcomer to social media? Comments are open.)
In response to your request, and what seems as a great follow-up to the “Is there hope for SMS health alerts?” discussion linked above, SMS or some form of instant messaging is by far the best mode of communication with this group. However, the means of communication is only as good as the “dialogue” with them. In other words, it’s all about what is being communicated to and with them. Our experience has shown that the more the dialogue pertains to their specific issues and needs, the more attentive and engaged. It goes another level when this becomes an interactive discussion, not necessarily a flurry of messages, but just response feedback to their perspectives engages them further. And to the question on the social media side, is the ability to inform their peers, not on all activities but select responses to trigger outreach to their broader group.
In reference to, Marshal Mcluhan, yes, “the medium is the message” but the message must be directed and relevant at the moment of the dialogue with the Teens for it to be perceived of any value to them.
Howard
CEO, LifeWIRE Corp
To build on the first comment, I just wanted to second that idea – you need to start with the message/information that needs to be communicated and then figure out if SMS (or any media tactic) is the right way to go. Coming from more of an advertising perspective, one of the biggest problems we see people (students, clients, etc.) is starting with a tactic in mind and then going “backwards” to the target audience and message.
Students often view Facebook (for example) as the solution to EVERY problem, no matter what the problem is. I’ll let them do this for a while, then ask them if they have EVER clicked on a Facebook ad. They tend to admit they haven’t, at which point they’re forced to rethink how they approach problems. They stop thinking like advertisers (it’s easy to suggest Facebook and pretend people click on the ads) and then more like consumers (how to people actually receive information).
Everything starts with good research and understanding of the target audience. What needs aren’t being met with current communication and promotion messages? What gaps can a new project meet?
Thank you! I just forwarded a link to the person who had asked the initial question. Let’s keep the conversation going — a grant application can lead to much more than money — deeper understanding and an engagement with the community!
I learned today about new service in New York City which might provide a useful template for other youth-focused organizations: TXT CONNECT.
See:
http://www.txtconnect.org/
And:
http://vimeo.com/65680466
We have decided that SMS will be a path to pursue. Now I have to make the argument to the larger medical school that still has some reservations. Is anyone aware of a good software provider, who is HIPAA compliant?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Lawrence,
I would be very happy to talk with you in detail regarding allaying any reservations your medical school may have on the use of SMS. In short, our LifeWIRE communication platform is used by 2 States (Hawaii and California), approved by Health and Human Services in support of SAMHSA’s ATR program, in use by the Veterans Administration plus countless other public sector and private sector organizations that I imagine have similar concerns as your medical school. The platform is HIPAA compliant, FDA ePRO validated and recently received two international awards (Rockefeller Foundation Top 100 Next Century Innovator and ComputerWorld Honors Laureate). For more information, please feel free to check out our site http://www.lifewiregroup.com and/or contact me @ hrosen@lifewiregroup.com
Thanks,
Howard Rosen
CEO
LifeWIRE Corp
Lawrence,
We have been using MEMOTEXT to manage the SMS-mediated aspects of our studies ever since I saw Amos present results of a study from Johns Hopkins at the mHealth Summit in DC. It’s been a very positive experience both in terms of their responsiveness in creating solutions for our needs, as well as addressing our concerns from a privacy perspective. Most of our studies are in patients with type 2 diabetes, but one is with HIV+ patients and so necessitated going through the DOH IRB in addition to the IRBs for the clinics and our University…going through that myriad of (necessary) hurdles made me feel a lot more confident from the HIPAA perspective. You can contact them via http://memotext.com/ or if you have questions about navigating some of the related issues from a PI/PD perspective, you can contact me directly.
Cheers,
Kevin
I believe Mobile Commons has a HIPAA compliant option. http://www.mobilecommons.com/
When people tell you that SMS is not HIPPA compliant, be cautious. There are different use cases for SMS In healthcare, and not all are forbidden by HIPPA. The big issue with SMS and HIPPA is clinician-to-clinician texting because of the unsecurable nature of the SMS infrastructure. Patients have no say in whether physician A sends your private data insecurely to physician B, so HIPPA says “NO!”.
However, SMS is a dead simple, near universal, way for us to get information in and out of the healthcare system. For this case, HIPPA says “HELL YES!”, so long as you have informed them of the potential risks. HIPPA exists both to protect our privacy where we have no say, and to ensure that we have easier access to our information (imperfect it as it may be).
Here is a nice discussion of a clarification on this issue in the recent HIPPA Omnibus package: http://www.connected-health.org/about-us/reflections-on-connected-health/reflections/sms-and-hipaa-yes-we-can.aspx
A few healthcare hackers organized a small Medstartr project at this year’s impromptu Boston HealthFoo to develop standard, clarifying language for common cases where people traditionally say “NO”. This should launch in the next week or so, so help us turn healthcare “NOs” into “Here’s your damn data baby”:
http://www.medstartr.com/projects/188-hacking-hipaa-better-making-hipaa-work-to-bring-tech-innovation-to-patients
As a provider, you will need to think about your SMS gateway provider and what they do to secure logs and other information on their systems and what your disclosure/security obligations are in that regard.
Cheers,
Ian
Here’s an example of SMS being used in an Australian perinatal mental health service
http://meta4RN.com/mobile
SMS was more successful than phone calls as a way to reach-out to people, it became much more than a tool that “broadcasted” health information and was used as two-way communication.
Thanks, Paul! I appreciate the details you included such as the data about indigenous vs. non-indigenous uptake of mobile tools (and your personal experience with engagement) plus the aural adventure I’m imagining with Japanese and Australian accents — quite a challenge. SMS is a great solution.