The impact of an educational text message intervention on young urban women's knowledge of oral contraception

BackgroundOral contraceptive (OC) knowledge deficits may contribute to OC discontinuation. We examined the effect of an innovative educational intervention on young women's OC knowledge.Study DesignAs part of a randomized trial evaluating the impact of text message reminders on OC continuation, we assessed OC knowledge in 659 women ages 13–25 years. Women received routine care or routine care plus 6 months of daily educational text messages. We administered a comprehensive 41-item OC knowledge survey at baseline and 6 months.ResultsMean OC knowledge scores improved over time for all women (baseline 22.8, 56% correct versus 24.7, 60% at 6 months), including knowledge of OC's mechanisms of action (p=.004), effectiveness (p<.001), side effects (p=.03) and benefits (p<.001). Mean 6-month scores were greater in the intervention (25.5) than the control group (23.7)(p<.001). In multivariable linear regression models, the text message intervention most strongly predicted OC knowledge (β= 1.6, 95% confidence interval 0.9–2.2).ConclusionDaily educational text messages can modestly improve knowledge of OCs, which may promote successful contraceptive outcomes.