eprintid: 1522125 rev_number: 31 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/52/21/25 datestamp: 2016-10-20 10:10:48 lastmod: 2021-10-07 22:10:10 status_changed: 2017-04-27 09:04:54 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Stawarz, KM creators_name: Rodriguez, MD creators_name: Cox, A creators_name: Blandford, A title: Understanding the use of contextual cues: Design implications for medication adherence technologies that support remembering ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D05 divisions: F70 divisions: B04 divisions: C05 divisions: F48 keywords: Medication adherence; forgetfulness; contextual cues; technology; daily routines note: Creative Commons Non Commercial CC-BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https:// us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). abstract: OBJECTIVE: Forgetfulness is one of the main reasons of unintentional medication non-adherence. Adherence technologies that help people remember to take their medications on time often do not take into account the context of people’s everyday lives. Existing evidence that highlights the effectiveness of remembering strategies that rely on contextual cues is largely based on research with older adults, and thus it is not clear whether it can be generalized to other populations or used to inform the design of wider adherence technologies that support medication self-management. Understanding how younger populations currently remember medications can inform the design of future adherence technologies that take advantage of existing contextual cues to support remembering. METHODS: We conducted three surveys with a total of over a thousand participants to investigate remembering strategies used by different populations: women who take oral contraception, parents and carers who give antibiotics to their children, and older adults who take medications for chronic conditions. RESULTS: Regardless of the population or the type of regimen, relying on contextual cues—routine events, locations, and meaningful objects—is a common and often effective strategy; combinations of two or more types of cues are more effective than relying on a single cue. CONCLUSIONS: To effectively support remembering, adherence technologies should help users recognize contextual cues they already have at their disposal and reinforce relevant cues available in their environment. We show that, given the latest developments in technology, such support is already feasible. date: 2016-12-01 date_type: published official_url: https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207616678707 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type_text: Article verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1183831 doi: 10.1177/2055207616678707 lyricists_name: Blandford, Ann lyricists_name: Cox, Anna lyricists_name: Stawarz, Katarzyna lyricists_id: AEBLA22 lyricists_id: ACOXX11 lyricists_id: KSTAW51 actors_name: Stawarz, Katarzyna actors_id: KSTAW51 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Digital Health issn: 2055-2076 citation: Stawarz, KM; Rodriguez, MD; Cox, A; Blandford, A; (2016) Understanding the use of contextual cues: Design implications for medication adherence technologies that support remembering. Digital Health 10.1177/2055207616678707 <https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207616678707>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1522125/7/Stawarz_2055207616678707.pdf