Clinical trial NCT02787460: Testing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Text Messages to Promote Attendance at HMRE Sessions
Official title: Testing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Text Messages to Promote Attendance at HMRE Sessions
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Family Relations
Marriage
Keywords: Parenting
Family Relations
Marriage
Relationships
Lead sponsor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Department of Health and Human Services
First posted: 2016-06-01
Enrollment: 1904
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The University of Florida offers relationship education programs named ELEVATE, for couples, and Smart Steps, for couples in stepfamilies, in Citrus, Duval, Manatee, Palm Beach, and Santa Rosa counties. Each workshop comprises 4 2.5-hour long sessions. The STREAMS evaluation will examine whether text messages informed by behavioral insight theory can improve couples' attendance at relationship skills education group sessions, and if so, which kinds of messages are most effective

Detailed description: The University of Florida operates the SMART program, which will offer four relationship education programs, each targeting a different population: (1) Relationship Smarts PLUS, for high school youth; (2) Before You Tie the Knot, for couples interested in marriage; (3) ELEVATE, for couples, and (4) Smart Steps, for couples in stepfamilies. All programming is offered through the University of Florida's IFAS Extension service in Citrus, Duval, Manatee, Palm Beach, and Santa Rosa counties.

The STREAMS evaluation will test text messaging strategies with couples enrolled in ELEVATE and Smart Steps. It will examine whether text messages informed by behavioral insight theory can improve couples' attendance at relationship skills education group sessions, and if so, which kinds of messages are most effective. ACF staff have noted that among the most common technical assistance requests from HMRE grantees are help with improving participation. Even if relationship skills sessions are offered in a convenient location where adults receive other services and even if programs offer transportation, child care and other assistance to facilitate regular program attendance, achieving consistent participation in these voluntary programs can be challenging. The University of Florida study will help address these challenges by examining whether text messages based on behavioral theories can work as a simple, practical strategy for improving program participation in group sessions. More broadly, the site will also add to the large and growing effort across the federal government to study the use of behavioral interventions or "nudges" to improve social programs.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Couple
* Both partners consent to receive text messages

Exclusion Criteria:

* Single Adults
* Either Partner or both do not consent to receive text messages

Primary outcomes:
measure: Attendance at programming session
timeFrame: Within 1 month of baseline
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Gainesville
country: United States
facility: University of Florida
state: Florida
Study officials:
affiliation: Mathematica Policy Research
name: Diane Paulsell
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: