An mHealth intervention to improve medication adherence among patients with coronary heart disease in China: Development of an intervention

Objectives:With this study,we aimed to develop a mobile technology(mHealth)intervention to improve medication adherence among patients with coronary heart disease(CHD).Methods:The study was conducted in two phases with CHD patients from a Cardiology Department of a hospital located in China.Each phase was independent from the other.Phase 1 tested the integration of the two apps-"WeChat"and"BB Reminder"-as an mHealth intervention.All participants received the same educational materials via WeChat every two days.Participants in the experimental group received a reminder from BB Reminder for every dose of their medications.The duration of Phase 1 was 30 days for each participant.Phase 2 refined the intervention,in which educational materials were sent every five days rather than every two days,and medication-taking reminders were sent daily rather than every dose.Results:In Phase 1,an mHealth intervention was developed by integrating two mobile apps.In Phase 2,medication adherence increased at 30-day follow-up in both groups compared to baseline.At the 30-day follow-up,the mean of the decrease in medication non-adherence score in the experimental group(M=1.35,SD=2.18,n=36)was more than the decrease in control group(M=0.69,SD=1.58,n=36),which means the medication adherence improved more in the experimental group.Conclusion:The feasibility of using mHealth to remind CHD patients to take their medications is high.