Comparing gain and Loss Framed Message Texting (SMS) on Foot Self-care Behaviors Among Women With Type 2 Diabetes

Background: The effectiveness of the educational message for motivating to change behavior may be greater than the actual content of a message depends on how the message is designed. Objective (s): The purpose of this study was to comparison effect of gain and loss messages via SMS mobile phone on foot self-care behaviors of women with type 2 diabetes referred to Ahwaz diabetic clinic. Materials/Patients and Methods: In this randomized controlled trial study, 189 type 2 diabetes patients were selected by convenience sampling then randomly divided in to three exp. groups and cont. group. Two experimental groups received gain and loss educational message of foot care Behaviors via mobile phone short message service for 2 months. Research data were collected through interviews using demographic and disease characteristics questionnaires and the summary of diabetes self-care activities measure. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 16 software and paired t-test, one way ANOVA and Chi-square at the level of 0.05 significance. Results: Before the intervention disease characteristics, individual variables and the average score of foot care behaviors of the study groups were similar. After the intervention, a significant increase was occurred in the mean score foot care in experimental groups (P=0/001). It was also shown that this increase in loss framed message group is significantly more than the gain message group (P=0/01). Conclusion: According to the results, designing and implementing educational programs based on mobile phone short message service and loss framed messages could improve foot- care behaviors in diabetic patients.