Text Messaging Intervention for Mental Wellness in American Indian and Alaska Native Teens and Young Adults (BRAVE Study): Analysis of User Engagement Patterns

BACKGROUND: Many American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN or Native) communities express concern about high rates of suicide and poor mental health. Technology-based health interventions that nurture resilience, coping skills, connectedness, and help-seeking skills may be an effective strategy for promoting health and wellbeing among AI/AN youth. The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board designed the BRAVE intervention for AI/AN youth. BRAVE is delivered via SMS text messaging and includes role model videos, mental wellness strategies, links to culturally relevant resources, and social support from family and friends. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore system data from the BRAVE intervention to determine patterns of user engagement and differences in psychosocial outcomes based on the number of clicks on BRAVE content. METHODS: The BRAVE study included 1030 AI/AN teens and young adults nationwide (15 to 24 years old). The message series in the BRAVE and STEM study arms included 3 to 5 SMS text messages per week, featuring 1 role model video and 1 image per week. Messages were sent out via Mobile Commons (Upland Software Inc), a mobile messaging provider that supports text, picture, and video SMS. RESULTS: Of the 509 participants in the original BRAVE analysis, 270 had sufficient data to analyze user engagement, with at least 1 trackable click on a study SMS text message. Of the 270, 184 (68.1%) were female, 50 (18.5%) were male, and 36 (13.3%) selected another gender category. The average participant was 20.6 years old, with a minimum and maximum age of 15 and 26 years. Most participants had relatively low engagement measured by the number of clicks (median 2; mean 3.4), although others clicked message content as many as 49 times. Users engaged most frequently with the YouTube-based content (viewing 1 of 7 role model videos), with 64.8% (175/270) of total clicks coming from the role model videos, and earlier episodes receiving the highest number of clicks. Most baseline psychosocial measures were not significantly associated with the number of links clicked. However, help-seeking behavior was highly significant (P<.001), with a rate ratio of 0.82 (0.73, 0.92), indicating that each 1-unit increase in help-seeking score at baseline was associated with an 18% decrease in the expected number of study content clicks. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to set initial standards for assessing user engagement in an mHealth intervention. Our work underscores the feasibility of exploring the impact of engagement on intended outcomes, allowing for more precise exploration of the dose-response relationship that may be realized through these low-touch interventions that offer promising potential for reaching high numbers of program participants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04979481; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04979481