Text messaging often gets a bad rap for
contributing to illiteracy and high-risk behavior such as reckless driving. But
a social welfare professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has found
an upside to texting, especially for people who feel stressed out, isolated and
alone.
Adrian
Aguilera, a clinical psychologist who treats many low-income Latinos for
depression and other mental disorders, said his patients report feeling more
connected and cared for when they receive text messages asking them to track
their moods, reflect on positive interactions, and take their prescribed
medications.
"When
I was in a difficult situation and I received a message, I felt much better. I
felt cared for and supported. My mood even improved," reported one
Spanish-speaking patient in Aguilera's cognitive behavior therapy group at San
Francisco General Hospital.
The
project began in 2010 when Aguilera developed a customized "Short Message
Service (SMS)" intervention program, with the help of UCSF psychologist
Ricardo Munoz, in which Aguilera's patients were sent automated text messages
prompting them to think and reply about their moods and responses to positive
and negative daily interactions.
The
psychologists published the results of the project last year in the journal,
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Aguilera has since been awarded
a $75,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"We
are harnessing a technology that people use in their everyday lives to improve
mental health in low-income, under-served communities," said Aguilera,
whose passion for addressing mental health issues among the poor was sparked
while growing up in a Mexican immigrant community in Chicago.
Recent
statistics bear out Aguilera's outreach strategy. The 2011 Pew Research
Center's Internet & American Life Project survey found that African
American and Latino mobile phone owners send and receive more text messages
than do Caucasians.
Of the
2,277 adult cell phone users surveyed by the Pew Foundation, the most active
senders and receivers of text messages (at least 50 messages a day) were
non-whites, earned incomes below $30,000 and did not graduate from high school.
Aguilera
came up with the texting idea when he realized that many of his patients had
difficulty applying the skills they learned in therapy to their daily lives,
possibly because of the many stressors they routinely faced. They could not
afford laptops, electronic tablets or smart phones, but most had a basic
cellular phone and a prepaid monthly plan.
"The
people I wanted to impact directly didn't have as much access to computers and
the Internet," Aguilera said. "So I thought about using mobile phones
to send text messages to remind them to practice the skills covered in therapy
sessions."
The
feedback from patients offers new insight into the human need for regular
contact or check-ins for mental health professionals, even if only through
automated technology, Aguilera said.
While
the text-messaging sessions are designed to last only a certain number of
weeks, about 75 percent of the patients requested that they continue receiving
the messages. When the program stopped for a week due to technical problems,
some really noticed the difference.
"When
it stopped, I missed it," the patient reported. "My life is so crazy,
I need a reminder to think about how I feel."
Source:
University of California – Berkeley
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