The aim of the research was to explore the relationship between the use of SMS communication by adolescents and their perceived feelings of loneliness. The SMS seems to be the new communication medium for young people as they are most comfortable with and enthusiastic about this technology and its applications. The adolescent stage is characterised by the building of own social networks, the definition of boundaries between themselves and parents, self-presentation constructed on a social stage in relation to others and characterised by the development of romantic attachments, feelings of anxiety, self-esteem development and maintenance which may result in feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness can be defined as an emotional and cognitive reaction to having fewer and less satisfying relationships than one desires. This includes the absence or self-perceived absence of satisfying social relationships and the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's network of social relations is deficient in some important way. The motivation for this research was to get insight into the relationship between the use of SMS communication and loneliness in the South African context. An internet search on the 13th February 2006 indicated that no research has yet been done on the relationship between the use of the SMS and loneliness of adolescents in South Africa. An availability sample was used. One hundred and seventeen Grade 11 and 12 learners from two schools in the North West Province participated in the research project. An explanatory cross-sectional survey design with features of qualitative data analysis was used in this investigation. Three methods were used to obtain data, namely the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), Satisfaction with Life Scale as well as a self-compiled questionnaire. After scoring the UCLA scale the researcher determined which of the participants had the highest level of loneliness and the lowest level of loneliness. Two groups were chosen, each consisting or 15 learners, according to the highest and lowest scores on the loneliness scale respectively. These two groups represented the top and bottom 14% of the sample. The data obtained from the self-compiled questionnaire and Satisfaction with Life scale were qualitatively compared. Analysis of the data indicated that there might be a relationship between the experience of loneliness and the following: gender; number of siblings; involvement in romantic relationships; amount of money spent on bill (financial constraints); quantity of SMS messages sent and received; need to stay in contact with friends over the weekend; reasons for sending SMS messages; feelings regarding sending or receiving SMS messages; feelings regarding no response to SMS messages; feeling with regard to not receiving SMS messages from a friend for a long time; initiating of friendships via cellphone and the SMS rather than face-to-face communication. Suggestions for future research projects were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

Text message reminders have proven effective for positive behavioral changes in medicine, but their influence on oral hygiene compliance has never been tested. This study aimed to determine if text message reminders about oral hygiene have an influence on the level of compliance. In this prospective randomized controlled clinical trial, 42 orthodontic patients were assigned to a text message or control group. Parents of patients assigned to the text message group received a reminder text message one weekday each week. Oral hygiene compliance was measured using bleeding index, modified gingival index, plaque index, and visual examination of white spot lesion development at baseline (T0), two appointments after baseline (T1), and four appointments after baseline (T2). Bleeding index, modified gingival index, and plaque index scores were significantly lower in the text message group than the control group at T2. A text message reminder system is effective for improving oral hygiene compliance in orthodontic patients.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The aim of the research was to explore the relationship between the use of SMS communication by adolescents and their perceived feelings of loneliness. The SMS seems to be the new communication medium for young people as they are most comfortable with and enthusiastic about this technology and its applications. The adolescent stage is characterised by the building of own social networks, the definition of boundaries between themselves and parents, self-presentation constructed on a social stage in relation to others and characterised by the development of romantic attachments, feelings of anxiety, self-esteem development and maintenance which may result in feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness can be defined as an emotional and cognitive reaction to having fewer and less satisfying relationships than one desires. This includes the absence or self-perceived absence of satisfying social relationships and the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's network of social relations is deficient in some important way. The motivation for this research was to get insight into the relationship between the use of SMS communication and loneliness in the South African context. An internet search on the 13th February 2006 indicated that no research has yet been done on the relationship between the use of the SMS and loneliness of adolescents in South Africa. An availability sample was used. One hundred and seventeen Grade 11 and 12 learners from two schools in the North West Province participated in the research project. An explanatory cross-sectional survey design with features of qualitative data analysis was used in this investigation. Three methods were used to obtain data, namely the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), Satisfaction with Life Scale as well as a self-compiled questionnaire. After scoring the UCLA scale the researcher determined which of the participants had the highest level of loneliness and the lowest level of loneliness. Two groups were chosen, each consisting or 15 learners, according to the highest and lowest scores on the loneliness scale respectively. These two groups represented the top and bottom 14% of the sample. The data obtained from the self-compiled questionnaire and Satisfaction with Life scale were qualitatively compared. Analysis of the data indicated that there might be a relationship between the experience of loneliness and the following: gender; number of siblings; involvement in romantic relationships; amount of money spent on bill (financial constraints); quantity of SMS messages sent and received; need to stay in contact with friends over the weekend; reasons for sending SMS messages; feelings regarding sending or receiving SMS messages; feelings regarding no response to SMS messages; feeling with regard to not receiving SMS messages from a friend for a long time; initiating of friendships via cellphone and the SMS rather than face-to-face communication. Suggestions for future research projects were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

Introdução: A mortalidade materna é aquela resultante de complicações diretas e indiretas da gravidez, parto ou puerpério, e um indicador de saúde da mulher bem como do desempenho dos sistemas de atenção à saúde. O Planejamento Familiar é considerado fundamental na diminuição das taxas de mortalidade materna. A implantação de estratégias efetivas de planejamento familiar no pós-parto (PFPP) poderia contribuir na diminuição das taxas de morbidade e mortalidade materna e infantil, bem como do número de gestações não planejadas e abortos inseguros. O uso de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) em uma intervenção educativa em saúde de PFPP poderia ser considerado uma ferramenta complementar útil na atenção pós-natal. Objetivo: Determinar se o envio de mensagens de texto via Short Message Service (SMS) sobre PFPP, é um complemento útil para o acompanhamento pós-natal, incentivando o uso de anticoncepcional no pós-parto e o retorno à consulta de puerpério. Métodos: Ensaio clínico aleatorizado controlado por grupo . Realizado entre fevereiro de 2015 e junho de 2016 em Ribeirão Preto. Com 420 mulheres, 326 mulheres do grupo de controle e 94 mulheres do grupo com intervenção, cada grupo estava composto por 10 Unidades Básicas e Distritais de Saúde. Mulheres do grupo com intervenção, com idade igual ou superior a 18 anos e com idade gestacional inferior a 20 semanas, foram convidadas a cadastrar-se no programa, após o aceite de participação, foi enviado o primeiro grupo de mensagens com informações referentes ao parto e gravidez, este envio terminava após o parto. Dentro das primeiras 48 horas pós-parto a mulher era entrevistada na maternidade, sendo coletados dados sociodemográficos, e do histórico sexual e reprodutivo, quatro dias após o parto as mulheres do grupo com intervenção que aceitaram receber as mensagens após o parto, receberam o segundo grupo de mensagens durante oito semanas com informações sobre contracepção no pós-parto. No terceiro mês após o parto foram entrevistadas as 420 no domicílio, o uso de anticoncepcional no pós-parto e assistência à consulta puerperal foram avaliados como desfechos principais. Todas as mulheres assinaram o Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. Resultados: A taxa total de uso de anticoncepcional foi de 92% no terceiro mês após o parto, 89% foram anticoncepcionais hormonais. Em relação á consulta puerperal, 76% das mulheres compareceram à consulta. 7 Conclusões: Não houve diferencia estatisticamente significante entre os grupos, talvez o impacto deste tipo de intervenção educativa pode ser diferente em outros contextos e regiões brasileiras onde a informação em saúde é mais defasada e as mulheres têm mais dificuldades no acesso ao serviço de saúde. Este foi o primeiro estudo da literatura que avaliou o impacto de mensagens educativas via SMS sobre uso de contraceptivos após três meses do parto. Além de promover informação através de SMS, numa linguagem de fácil entendimento para as mulheres sobre saúde reprodutiva, a proposta deste estudo possibilitou a participação ativa dessas mulheres, por possuir um sistema de mensagem de texto bidirecional. / Introduction: Maternal mortality is the result of direct and indirect complications of pregnancy, childbirth or puerperium, and an indicator of women\'s health as well as the performance of health care systems. Family Planning is considered to be crucial in reducing maternal mortality rates. The implementation of effective family planning strategies in the postpartum period (FPPP) could contribute to the reduction of rates of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, as well as the number of unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (CIT) in a FPPP health education intervention could be considered a useful complementary tool in postnatal care. Objective: To determine if the sending of text messages via Short Message Service (SMS) on FPPP is a useful complement to postnatal follow-up, encouraging postpartum contraceptive use and the return to puerperal consultation. Methods: Conglomerate-controlled randomized clinical trial. Held between February 2015 and June 2016 in Ribeirão Preto. With 420 women, 326 women from the conglomerate control and 94 women from the conglomerate with intervention, each conglomerate was composed of 10 Basic and District Health Units. Women of the conglomerate with intervention, aged 18 years or above and with gestational age less than 20 weeks, were invited to join the program, after accepting participation, was sent the first group of messages with information regarding delivery and pregnancy, this shipment ended after delivery. Within the first 48 hours postpartum, the woman was interviewed in the maternity ward, and socio-demographic data and sexual and reproductive history were collected. Four days after delivery, women from the conglomerate with intervention who accepted to receive postpartum messages received the second group of messages for eight weeks with information on postpartum contraception. In the third month after delivery, the 420 women were interviewed at home, postpartum contraceptive use and puerperal consultation were evaluated as the main outcomes. All the women signed the Free and Informed Consent Form. Results: The total contraceptive use rate was 92% in the third month after delivery, 89% were hormonal contraceptives. Regarding the puerperal consultation, 76% of the women attended the consultation. Conclusions: There was no statistically significant 9 difference between groups, perhaps the impact of this type of educational intervention may be different in other Brazilian contexts and regions where health information is more lagged and women have more difficulties in accessing the health service. This was the first study in the literature that evaluated the impact of educational messages via SMS on contraceptive use after three months of childbirth. In addition to promoting information through SMS, in a language that women can easily understand about reproductive health, the proposal of this study made possible the active participation of these women, because it has a two-way text message system.

Introdução: A mortalidade materna é aquela resultante de complicações diretas e indiretas da gravidez, parto ou puerpério, e um indicador de saúde da mulher bem como do desempenho dos sistemas de atenção à saúde. O Planejamento Familiar é considerado fundamental na diminuição das taxas de mortalidade materna. A implantação de estratégias efetivas de planejamento familiar no pós-parto (PFPP) poderia contribuir na diminuição das taxas de morbidade e mortalidade materna e infantil, bem como do número de gestações não planejadas e abortos inseguros. O uso de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) em uma intervenção educativa em saúde de PFPP poderia ser considerado uma ferramenta complementar útil na atenção pós-natal. Objetivo: Determinar se o envio de mensagens de texto via Short Message Service (SMS) sobre PFPP, é um complemento útil para o acompanhamento pós-natal, incentivando o uso de anticoncepcional no pós-parto e o retorno à consulta de puerpério. Métodos: Ensaio clínico aleatorizado controlado por grupo . Realizado entre fevereiro de 2015 e junho de 2016 em Ribeirão Preto. Com 420 mulheres, 326 mulheres do grupo de controle e 94 mulheres do grupo com intervenção, cada grupo estava composto por 10 Unidades Básicas e Distritais de Saúde. Mulheres do grupo com intervenção, com idade igual ou superior a 18 anos e com idade gestacional inferior a 20 semanas, foram convidadas a cadastrar-se no programa, após o aceite de participação, foi enviado o primeiro grupo de mensagens com informações referentes ao parto e gravidez, este envio terminava após o parto. Dentro das primeiras 48 horas pós-parto a mulher era entrevistada na maternidade, sendo coletados dados sociodemográficos, e do histórico sexual e reprodutivo, quatro dias após o parto as mulheres do grupo com intervenção que aceitaram receber as mensagens após o parto, receberam o segundo grupo de mensagens durante oito semanas com informações sobre contracepção no pós-parto. No terceiro mês após o parto foram entrevistadas as 420 no domicílio, o uso de anticoncepcional no pós-parto e assistência à consulta puerperal foram avaliados como desfechos principais. Todas as mulheres assinaram o Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. Resultados: A taxa total de uso de anticoncepcional foi de 92% no terceiro mês após o parto, 89% foram anticoncepcionais hormonais. Em relação á consulta puerperal, 76% das mulheres compareceram à consulta. 7 Conclusões: Não houve diferencia estatisticamente significante entre os grupos, talvez o impacto deste tipo de intervenção educativa pode ser diferente em outros contextos e regiões brasileiras onde a informação em saúde é mais defasada e as mulheres têm mais dificuldades no acesso ao serviço de saúde. Este foi o primeiro estudo da literatura que avaliou o impacto de mensagens educativas via SMS sobre uso de contraceptivos após três meses do parto. Além de promover informação através de SMS, numa linguagem de fácil entendimento para as mulheres sobre saúde reprodutiva, a proposta deste estudo possibilitou a participação ativa dessas mulheres, por possuir um sistema de mensagem de texto bidirecional. / Introduction: Maternal mortality is the result of direct and indirect complications of pregnancy, childbirth or puerperium, and an indicator of women\'s health as well as the performance of health care systems. Family Planning is considered to be crucial in reducing maternal mortality rates. The implementation of effective family planning strategies in the postpartum period (FPPP) could contribute to the reduction of rates of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, as well as the number of unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (CIT) in a FPPP health education intervention could be considered a useful complementary tool in postnatal care. Objective: To determine if the sending of text messages via Short Message Service (SMS) on FPPP is a useful complement to postnatal follow-up, encouraging postpartum contraceptive use and the return to puerperal consultation. Methods: Conglomerate-controlled randomized clinical trial. Held between February 2015 and June 2016 in Ribeirão Preto. With 420 women, 326 women from the conglomerate control and 94 women from the conglomerate with intervention, each conglomerate was composed of 10 Basic and District Health Units. Women of the conglomerate with intervention, aged 18 years or above and with gestational age less than 20 weeks, were invited to join the program, after accepting participation, was sent the first group of messages with information regarding delivery and pregnancy, this shipment ended after delivery. Within the first 48 hours postpartum, the woman was interviewed in the maternity ward, and socio-demographic data and sexual and reproductive history were collected. Four days after delivery, women from the conglomerate with intervention who accepted to receive postpartum messages received the second group of messages for eight weeks with information on postpartum contraception. In the third month after delivery, the 420 women were interviewed at home, postpartum contraceptive use and puerperal consultation were evaluated as the main outcomes. All the women signed the Free and Informed Consent Form. Results: The total contraceptive use rate was 92% in the third month after delivery, 89% were hormonal contraceptives. Regarding the puerperal consultation, 76% of the women attended the consultation. Conclusions: There was no statistically significant 9 difference between groups, perhaps the impact of this type of educational intervention may be different in other Brazilian contexts and regions where health information is more lagged and women have more difficulties in accessing the health service. This was the first study in the literature that evaluated the impact of educational messages via SMS on contraceptive use after three months of childbirth. In addition to promoting information through SMS, in a language that women can easily understand about reproductive health, the proposal of this study made possible the active participation of these women, because it has a two-way text message system.

In this thesis, the concept of mobile messaging awareness has been investigated by designing and implementing a framework which is able to annotate the short text messages with context ontology for semantic reasoning inference and classification purposes. The annotated metadata of text message keywords are identified and annotated with concepts, entities and knowledge that drawn from ontology without the need of learning process and the proposed framework supports semantic reasoning based messages awareness for categorization purposes. The first stage of the research is developing the framework of facilitating mobile communication with short text annotated messages (SAMS), which facilitates annotating short text message with part of speech tags augmented with an internal and external metadata. In the SAMS framework the annotation process is carried out automatically at the time of composing a message. The obtained metadata is collected from the device’s file system and the message header information which is then accumulated with the message’s tagged keywords to form an XML file, simultaneously. The significance of annotation process is to assist the proposed framework during the search and retrieval processes to identify the tagged keywords and The Semantic Web Technologies are utilised to improve the reasoning mechanism. Later, the proposed framework is further improved “Contextual Ontology based Short Text Messages reasoning (SOIM)”. SOIM further enhances the search capabilities of SAMS by adopting short text message annotation and semantic reasoning capabilities with domain ontology as Domain ontology is modeled into set of ontological knowledge modules that capture features of contextual entities and features of particular event or situation. Fundamentally, the framework SOIM relies on the hierarchical semantic distance to compute an approximated match degree of new set of relevant keywords to their corresponding abstract class in the domain ontology. Adopting contextual ontology leverages the framework performance to enhance the text comprehension and message categorization. Fuzzy Sets and Rough Sets theory have been integrated with SOIM to improve the inference capabilities and system efficiency. Since SOIM is based on the degree of similarity to choose the matched pattern to the message, the issue of choosing the best-retrieved pattern has arisen during the stage of decision-making. Fuzzy reasoning classifier based rules that adopt the Fuzzy Set theory for decision making have been applied on top of SOIM framework in order to increase the accuracy of the classification process with clearer decision. The issue of uncertainty in the system has been addressed by utilising the Rough Sets theory, in which the irrelevant and indecisive properties which affect the framework efficiency negatively have been ignored during the matching process.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) per DSM-5 criteria are characteristically limited in their ability to interact socially due to conversational speech delays. Typically, children with ASD experience a more constrained number of appropriate initiations and responses in conversations with peers. Previous research has shown the benefits of using scripted language to increase verbalizations in these children. However, limited research has been conducted on the use of technology to increase social interactions between children with ASD. This study will be based on hypotheses and results from the dissertation, “Teaching Conversational Speech to Children with Autism Using a Text Message Intervention” by Denise Grosberg. Grosberg evaluated the performance of a text message intervention (TMI) procedure using scripted language to teach conversational speech with typically developing peers. The present study used a multiple baseline design across dyads to again assess the efficacy of a text message intervention between dyads of children with ASD, including younger and lower-functioning participants. Results demonstrated an increase in appropriate conversational speech through the TMI and an increase in unscripted language following the intervention. Seven of the participants generalized the behavior across peers and settings as well as after a two-week follow-up period. Data are discussed in terms of the percentage of appropriate phrases used, as a function of appropriate phrases, inappropriate phrases, and the number of times a participant did not respond.

Regular physical activity and the inclusion of fruits and vegetables in dietary intake contribute to a variety of positive health outcomes and improve quality of life. With more than half of college students falling short of government guidelines for exercise and nutrition (ACHA, 2009), effective interventions targeting young adults during this transitional time are critical. Mobile phone use has become increasingly common among college students, providing an opportunity to develop intervention strategies that may be better integrated into their daily lives. Research on intervention components delivered by phone is essential for developing easily utilized, efficacious nutrition and physical activity interventions for students. Study objectives were (1) to examine the utility of a combined web-based and text-messaging intervention for physical activity and nutrition among college students, and (2) to examine the value of text message tailoring to maximize improvement in these outcomes. Students recruited from introductory psychology classes (n=151) completed measures of physical activity and nutrition at baseline and one-month follow-up. Students were randomized into one of four conditions: assessment only, web-based health behaviors feedback only, web-based feedback with standardized daily text-messages, web-based feedback with tailored daily text-messages. Primary hypotheses were that the intervention that combined web-based feedback with tailored daily text-messages would result in increased physical activity, increased fruit and vegetable intake, and greater likelihood of meeting government standards for these behaviors at follow-up compared to the assessment control condition. Regression analyses were performed with planned contrasts between experimental conditions to examine the additive impact of each intervention component on primary outcomes. Secondary analyses were conducted on additional nutrition and physical activity outcomes. Exploratory analyses were conducted to examine whether individual difference variables moderated the influence of the intervention on outcomes. Study hypotheses were not supported. No significant effect was observed for the intervention on physical activity or nutrition outcomes. These findings may suggest the need for more intensive intervention strategies to impact behavior. Future iterations should include two-way text-message communication and feedback to increase depth-of-processing, alternative tailoring approaches based on self-reported goal-systems variables, and further exploration of intervention components that may improve physical activity and nutrition among college students.

No description available.