Project Details -
Completed
-
Grant NumberR01 HS025071
-
Funding Mechanism(s)
-
AHRQ Funded Amount$1,989,445
-
Principal Investigator(s)
-
Organization
-
LocationNew York CityNew York
-
Project Dates09/30/2016 - 09/29/2022
-
Technology
-
Care Setting
-
Medical Condition
-
Type of Care
-
Health Care Theme
Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to affect 1.2 million Americans. Adhering to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is critical to the health of people living with HIV (PLWH) and to preventing transmission of the virus. Yet, estimates suggest that at least 10 percent of PLWH in the United States miss one or more medication doses on any given day, and as many as 50 percent of patients miss doses in the prior 2 to 4 weeks.
Preliminary evidence indicates that mobile Health (mHealth) technology is a feasible platform for improving ART adherence since mobile phones are nearly ubiquitous and costs are steadily dropping. Furthermore, emerging evidence suggests that underserved populations use smartphones as their primary method for accessing the Internet. Smartphones therefore provide an opportunity for bi-directional communication and on-demand access to health information wherever and whenever patients need it the most.
This project will design and evaluate a smartphone application (app) that is integrated with a smart pill box that monitors medication adherence in real-time and provide real-time feedback.
The specific aims of this project are as follows:
- Build a functional app for HIV self-management linked to a smart pill box for PLWH and to assess its usability.
- Evaluate the impact of the app on medication adherence in underserved PLWH.
- Assess PLWH perceptions of the predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors for technology use through theoretically guided focus group sessions.
This work has the potential to improve ART adherence in PLWH and has broader potential to improve understanding of how to support patients’ medication adherence for other health conditions.