Medication adherence: A method for designing context-aware reminders.

Abstract

Several interventions have been proposed to improve medication adherence including those using reminders. Context-aware reminders can be effective because they operate when the dose is due, has not been taken, and is still safe to take. Although very promising, we find that there is no method to design context-aware reminders. To address these, we focus on proposing a method to design context-aware reminders. We conducted a systematic review of context-aware reminders for medication adherence using PRISMA approach. The analysis of literature leads to several interesting observations including the need for a method to design context-aware reminders. In this study, we present Method to Design Context-Aware Reminders (MDCAR) that can also meet special requirements. We used domain experts reasoning to evaluate the designed Context-Aware Reminders for Medication Adherence (CARS-MA). Further, we used analytical model to evaluate reliability, side effects, and cost of intervention. This is the first paper that addresses "how to" design context-aware reminders. The proposed design method can lead to range of context-aware reminders including CARS-MA. The verification, validation, and evaluation of CARS-MA indicate that the context-aware reminders perform better than simple reminders in improving medication adherence. The proposed method for context-aware reminders will help healthcare professionals and researchers to implement and select a suitable intervention to improve medication adherence. Further, it can lead to decision support systems for patients, healthcare professionals, researchers and policy makers for medication adherence. The design method can be extended for complex scenarios of multiple medications, persistent-reminders, and composite interventions.