Mobile Phone Text Messaging and Telephone Follow Upin Iranian Type 2 Diabetic Patients for 3 Months: A Comparative Study

Objective: this study was performed to compare the effectiveness of two methods offollow-up: short message service (sms) versus telephone calion glycosylated hemoglobin(hba1c) in type 2 diabetes.material and methods: this semi-experimental study consisted of 77 patients withtype 2 diabetes who were randomly assigned into two groups: telephone follow-up (n == 39) andshort message service (n = 38). telephone interventions were applied by researchers for 3 months. sms group received message daily for 12 weeks. data were collected using data sheetto record hbalc and a questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics. data gathering was performed at two points: at the baseline of the study and after 12 weeks. data were analyzedby spss 11.5 using descriptive and inferential statistics methods.results: demographic variables were confirmed to be homogenous. the results of this study showed that both interventions had significant mean changes in hba1c; for the telephone group(p == 0.001) with a mean change of -0.93% and for the sms group (p =0.001) with a mean change of -1.01%.conclusion: the findings of this research showed that intervention using sms via mobilephone and nurse-led-telephone follow-up improves hba1c for three months in type 2 diabetic patients and it can be considered as an alternative method for diabetes control.