Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 13;5(7):e27327.
doi: 10.2196/27327.

Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Cynthia F Corbett  1   2 , Elizabeth M Combs  1   2 , Peyton S Chandarana  2   3 , Isabel Stringfellow  2   4   5 , Karen Worthy  1 , Thien Nguyen  1   2 , Pamela J Wright  1   2 , Jason M O'Kane  2   3
Affiliations

Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Cynthia F Corbett et al. JMIR Form Res. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Medication nonadherence is a global public health challenge that results in suboptimal health outcomes and increases health care costs. Forgetting to take medicines is one of the most common reasons for unintentional medication nonadherence. Research findings indicate that voice-activated virtual home assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, may be useful in promoting medication adherence.

Objective: This study aims to create a medication adherence app (skill), MedBuddy, for Amazon Echo devices and measure the use, usability, and usefulness of this medication-taking reminder skill.

Methods: A single-group, mixed methods, cohort feasibility study was conducted with women who took oral contraceptives (N=25). Participants were undergraduate students (age: mean 21.8 years, SD 6.2) at an urban university in the Southeast United States. Participants were given an Amazon Echo Dot with MedBuddy-a new medication reminder skill for Echo devices created by our team-attached to their study account, which they used for 60 days. Participants self-reported their baseline and poststudy medication adherence. MedBuddy use was objectively evaluated by tracking participants' interactions with MedBuddy through Amazon Alexa. The usability and usefulness of MedBuddy were evaluated through a poststudy interview in which participants responded to both quantitative and qualitative questions.

Results: Participants' interactions with MedBuddy, as tracked through Amazon Alexa, only occurred on half of the study days (mean 50.97, SD 29.5). At study end, participants reported missing their medication less in the past 1 and 6 months compared with baseline (χ21=0.9 and χ21=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P<.001 for both). However, there was no significant difference in participants' reported adherence to consistently taking medication within the same 2-hour time frame every day in the past 1 or 6 months at the end of the study compared with baseline (χ21=3.5 and χ21=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P=.63 and P=.07, respectively). Overall feedback about usability was positive, and participants provided constructive feedback about the skill's features that could be improved. Participants' evaluation of MedBuddy's usefulness was overwhelmingly positive-most (15/23, 65%) said that they would continue using MedBuddy as a medication reminder if provided with the opportunity and that they would recommend it to others. MedBuddy features that participants enjoyed were an external prompt separate from their phone, the ability to hear the reminder prompt from a separate room, multiple reminders, and verbal responses to prompts.

Conclusions: The findings of this feasibility study indicate that the MedBuddy medication reminder skill may be useful in promoting medication adherence. However, the skill could benefit from further usability enhancements.

Keywords: Echo device; device usability; digital health; health care costs; medication; medication adherence; mobile phone; public health; virtual assistant; virtual home assistants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of participant dialogue with MedBuddy through Echo.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. World Health Organization . Adherence to Long-term Therapies: Evidence for Action. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. pp. 1–211.
    1. Brown MT, Bussell JK. Medication adherence: WHO cares? Mayo Clin Proc. 2011 Apr;86(4):304–14. doi: 10.4065/mcp.2010.0575. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/21389250 S0025-6196(11)60007-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gillespie CW, Morin PE, Tucker JM, Purvis L. Medication adherence, health care utilization, and spending among privately insured adults with chronic conditions in the United States, 2010-2016. Am J Med. 2020 Jun;133(6):690–704. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.12.021. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002-9343(20)30031-0 S0002-9343(20)30031-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Iuga A, McGuire M. Adherence and health care costs. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2014 Feb;:35–44. doi: 10.2147/rmhp.s19801. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Marcum ZA, Gellad WF. Medication adherence to multidrug regimens. Clin Geriatr Med. 2012 May;28(2):287–300. doi: 10.1016/j.cger.2012.01.008. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/22500544 S0749-0690(12)00009-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed