From the article objective: "The objective of this study was to test whether the dissemination of health information via a short message service (SMS) led to improvements in health knowledge and self-reported health-related behaviors."

mFHAST Implications: Opportunities for improving motivation for positive self-reported behavior change among hypertensive patients

From the methods section posted in PubMed: An initial set of 64 SMS text messages were designed to promote healthy lifestyles among individuals in different stages of behavior change, addressing four key domains: salt and sodium intake, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of high fat and sugar foods, and physical activity. The 64 SMS text messages were organized into nine subsets for field validation. In each country 36 people were recruited, half of them being male. Of the participants, 4 per country evaluated each subset of SMS text messages, which contained between 6 and 8 SMS text messages regarding different key domains and stages of change. The understanding and appeal of each SMS text message was assessed using a 7-item questionnaire. The understanding and appeal ratings were used to reach a final set of 56 SMS text messages.

mFHAST Implication: Effective design of healthy lifestyle promotion SMS messages for use in decreasing hypertension