Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines

Katarzyna Stawarz; Anna L. Cox; Ann Blandford

doi:10.1145/2556288.2557079

Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines

Katarzyna Stawarz
, Anna L. Cox
, Ann Blandford

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

141 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite the fact that a third of all cases of unintentional medication non-adherence are caused by simple forgetfulness, the majority of interventions neglect this issue. Even though patients have access to smartphone applications ("apps") designed to help them remember medication, neither their quality nor effectiveness has been evaluated yet. We report the findings of a functionality review of 229 medication reminder apps and a thematic analysis of their 1,012 user reviews. Our research highlights the gap between the theory and practice: While the literature shows that many medication regimens are habitual in nature and the presence of daily routines supports remembering, existing apps rely on timer-based reminders. To address this disparity, we present design requirements for building medication reminders that support the routine aspect of medication-taking and its individual nature, and demonstrate how they could be implemented to move from passive alerts to a smarter memory and routine assistant.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	2269-2278
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	9781450324731
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557079
Publication status	Published - 2014
Event	32nd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014: One of a CHInd - Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada Duration: 26 Apr 2014 → 1 May 2014 Conference number: 32 http://chi2014.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	32nd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014
Abbreviated title	CHI 2014
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Toronto, ON
Period	26/04/14 → 1/05/14
Other	The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction. CHI 2014 is a celebration of the conference's one of a kind diversity; from the broad range of backgrounds of its attendees, to the diverse spectrum of communities and fields which the conference and its research have an impact on. CHI 2014 will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada, a city itself known for its one of a kind cultural diversity.
Internet address	http://chi2014.acm.org/

Research Groups and Themes

Digital Health

Keywords

Forgetfulness
Habits
Medication reminders
Routines
Smartphone apps

Access to Document

10.1145/2556288.2557079

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Persistent link

Cite this

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title = "Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines",

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publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "32nd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014 : One of a CHInd, CHI 2014 ; Conference date: 26-04-2014 Through 01-05-2014",

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Stawarz, K, Cox, AL & Blandford, A 2014, Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines. in Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 2269-2278, 32nd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014, Toronto, ON, Canada, 26/04/14. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557079

Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines. / Stawarz, Katarzyna; Cox, Anna L.; Blandford, Ann.
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. Association for Computing Machinery, 2014. p. 2269-2278.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines

AU - Stawarz, Katarzyna

AU - Cox, Anna L.

AU - Blandford, Ann

N1 - Conference code: 32

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Despite the fact that a third of all cases of unintentional medication non-adherence are caused by simple forgetfulness, the majority of interventions neglect this issue. Even though patients have access to smartphone applications ("apps") designed to help them remember medication, neither their quality nor effectiveness has been evaluated yet. We report the findings of a functionality review of 229 medication reminder apps and a thematic analysis of their 1,012 user reviews. Our research highlights the gap between the theory and practice: While the literature shows that many medication regimens are habitual in nature and the presence of daily routines supports remembering, existing apps rely on timer-based reminders. To address this disparity, we present design requirements for building medication reminders that support the routine aspect of medication-taking and its individual nature, and demonstrate how they could be implemented to move from passive alerts to a smarter memory and routine assistant.

AB - Despite the fact that a third of all cases of unintentional medication non-adherence are caused by simple forgetfulness, the majority of interventions neglect this issue. Even though patients have access to smartphone applications ("apps") designed to help them remember medication, neither their quality nor effectiveness has been evaluated yet. We report the findings of a functionality review of 229 medication reminder apps and a thematic analysis of their 1,012 user reviews. Our research highlights the gap between the theory and practice: While the literature shows that many medication regimens are habitual in nature and the presence of daily routines supports remembering, existing apps rely on timer-based reminders. To address this disparity, we present design requirements for building medication reminders that support the routine aspect of medication-taking and its individual nature, and demonstrate how they could be implemented to move from passive alerts to a smarter memory and routine assistant.

KW - Forgetfulness

KW - Habits

KW - Medication reminders

KW - Routines

KW - Smartphone apps

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84900407012

U2 - 10.1145/2556288.2557079

DO - 10.1145/2556288.2557079

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

AN - SCOPUS:84900407012

SN - 9781450324731

SP - 2269

EP - 2278

BT - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - 32nd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014

Y2 - 26 April 2014 through 1 May 2014

ER -

Don't forget your pill! Designing effective medication reminder apps that support users' daily routines

Abstract

Conference

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Keywords

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