Evaluación del proceso de un programa realizado a través de Internet y de la telefonía móvil para promover conductas saludables en estudiantes de educación secundaria de España y México

Background: Current communication technologies can be used in health education. The aim was to assess the process of an online program designed to prevent cancer risk behaviours using an educational website and mobile phones. Methods: High school students from Spain and Mexico were recruited during 3 academic years (2009-12) to participate in a web-based program supplemented with mobile phone messages (SMS) which aim was to prevent cancer risk behaviours. The program was designed as a randomized trial, with control and experimental group (EG). Recruitment and adherence were analyzed using data of the Web management platform and Google Analytics. Results: 3,855 students started the logging on the program of which 2,001 (51.9%) completed the questionnaire.77.5% were Mexicans, 13 years old (40.6%), with good academic level (68.7%) and with parents (49.6%) and mothers (53.9%) having university degree. 56.4% recorded a phone number to receive SMS. The EG consisted of 1,014 students and the averages of their visits to the website were 31.6 in the first year, 21.8 in the second and 21.9 in the third. Each adolescent of the EG was able to incorporate 1.16 adults (total 1,172) and other 1,076 were recorded spontaneously. Retention rate at the end of follow-up was 41.5% and was higher among those who were best students (OR: 12,5), Mexicans (OR: 4.4), 12 years old (OR: 3.1) and have been incorporated in the first three months of the implementation (OR: 2.8). Conclusion: Students' recruitment and retention was scarce, mainly in Spain. However students involved visited the program website with sufficient amount of time to achieve good results. Fundamentos: Internet y la telefonía móvil forman parte de la tecnología más reciente que puede utilizarse en la educación para la salud. El objetivo fue evaluar el proceso de un programa para prevenir conductas de riesgo de cáncer implementado a través de internet y telefonía móvil. Métodos: Durante tres cursos académicos del período 2009-12 se seleccionó a estudiantes de secundaria de España y México para participar en un programa en línea suplementado con el envío de mensajes al teléfono móvil (SMS) cuyo objetivo era prevenir conductas de riesgo de cáncer. La intervención fue diseñada como un ensayo aleatorizado, con un grupo experimental (GE) y un grupo control. Se midieron el reclutamiento y la retención utilizando las herramientas de la plataforma de gestión de la web y de Google Analytics. Resultados: 3.855 estudiantes ini