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Safetxt: a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone to increase safer sex behaviours in young people

McCarthy, OL; French, RS; Baraitser, P; Roberts, I; Rathod, SD; Devries, K; Bailey, JV; ... Free, C; + view all (2016) Safetxt: a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone to increase safer sex behaviours in young people. BMJ Open , 6 (12) , Article e013045. 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013045. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To test the procedures proposed for a main trial of a safer sex intervention for young people delivered by mobile phone text message ('safetxt'). DESIGN AND SETTING: Pilot randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited through sexual health services in the UK. An independent online randomisation system allocated participants to receive the safetxt intervention or to receive the control text messages (monthly messages about participation in the study). Texting software delivered the messages in accordance with a predetermined schedule. PARTICIPANTS: Residents of England aged 16-24 who had received either a positive chlamydia test result or reported unsafe sex in the last year (defined as more than 1 partner and at least 1 occasion of sex without a condom). INTERVENTION: The safetxt intervention is designed to reduce sexually transmitted infection in young people by supporting them in using condoms, telling a partner about an infection and testing before unprotected sex with a new partner. Safetxt was developed drawing on: behavioural science; face-to-face interventions; the factors known to influence safer sex behaviours and the views of young people. OUTCOMES: The coprimary outcomes of the pilot trial were the recruitment rate and completeness of follow-up. RESULTS: We recruited 200 participants within our target of 3 months and we achieved 81% (162/200) follow-up response for the proposed primary outcome of the main trial, cumulative incidence of chlamydia at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Recruitment, randomisation, intervention delivery and follow-up were successful and a randomised controlled trial of the safetxt intervention is feasible. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN02304709

Type: Article
Title: Safetxt: a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone to increase safer sex behaviours in young people
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013045
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013045
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright information: Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Primary Care and Population Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1534415
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