Connecting Communities of Need with Public Health: Can SMS Text-Messaging Improve Outreach Communication?

Communities of need face many health crises and often rely on our public health system or their community-based organizations for help in lieu of medical practitioners or clinics. These same communities also turn to affordable cell phones in lieu of landlines for mobility, and cost savings. Public health practitioners and community practitioners who provide local services find ongoing communication with these individuals in communities of need, can be a challenge and raises our research question. Can SMS text-messaging be used as an affordable means to improve outreach communication and disseminate information between community practitioners? Afield study of 50 participants was conducted to collect communication protocol responses through an SMS text-messaging simulation. The Web-based training application presented a crisis scenario and plain language training. The findings of this study suggest potential use of SMS text-messaging as a communication medium for exchange between field practitioners. A contribution of this research is the data collection in a community setting for analysis in bridging the digital divide where affordability is a limitation.