Effectiveness of Text Messaging Nudging to Increase Coverage of Influenza Vaccination Among Older Adults in Norway (InfluSMS Study): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

<p>Background: The coverage of influenza vaccination among older adults in Norway is insufficient, especially in some immigrant groups. To improve public health, there is a need for an intervention that can increase influenza vaccination coverage. Further, interventions tailored to reduce potential barriers among immigrants can reduce health inequities. <br></p><p>Objective: InfluSMS aims to determine if SMS nudging increases vaccination coverage among those aged 65 years or older (1) in Norway’s general population; (2) among immigrants born in Poland; and (3) among immigrants born in Ukraine; and evaluate the impact of SMS nudging in Norwegian versus in the official language of the native country of immigrants born in Poland or Ukraine.<br></p><p> Methods: InfluSMS is a pragmatic randomized controlled trial conducted among people aged 65 years or older residing in Norway. Influenza vaccination coverage is the main outcome, measured in control and intervention arms for each of the 3 populations listed earlier. In all 3 populations, the control arm is standard care, that is, no individual reminder for influenza vaccination. All populations have an intervention arm that will receive an SMS nudge in the Norwegian language. In addition, the Polish and Ukrainian immigrant populations include a second intervention arm that will receive an SMS nudge in Polish or Ukrainian, respectively. In the general population, at least 23,485 individuals will be randomized to the SMS intervention arm while the rest of the population constitutes the control arm. In each of the 2 immigrant populations, we will randomize all eligible individuals 1:1:1 into the 3 arms. The intervention will take place at the start of the 2025-2026 influenza season. All eligible individuals will be passively followed up through the National Immunisation Registry, SYSVAK, from which individual influenza vaccination status 3 months after the SMS nudge will be collected. Coverage rates between arms within each population and effect sizes between the populations will be compared. The cost-effectiveness of SMS nudging will also be assessed. <br></p><p>Results: The inclusion of participants will start in the third quarter of 2025, and the registry data will be available in the first quarter of 2026. Coverage rates of each strategy and coverage differences between strategies will be presented. <br></p><p>Conclusions: SMS nudging is a scalable, inexpensive, and nonintrusive intervention that could be integrated into the national influenza vaccination program if the trial shows it effectively increases influenza vaccination coverage among older adults.Further, the trial will establish whether language is a barrier to influenza vaccination uptake among recent immigrant groups that have low influenza vaccination coverage, and to what extent this potential barrier can be diminished by SMS nudging in the official language of their native country.<br></p>