Personalized routine support for tackling medication non-adherence

Abstract

Behavior change interventions addressing medication non- adherence tend to focus on intentional behavior and seem to ignore the fact that even motivated people can sometimes forget to take their medication. Behavior change often conjures up ideas of modifying or breaking bad habits; we argue that focusing on the development of good habits could be used to support memory and reduce unintentional non-adherence caused by forgetfulness. But the purposeful development of reliable habits is not easy. Our research shows that daily routines play an important role in supporting remembering of a medication regimen. We believe that, by facilitating the creation of good habits embedded into one's own personalized daily routine, technology could not only reduce unintentional medication non-adherence, but also provide a better support in other types of health-related behavior change interventions.