Reminders and rewards to aid adherence in adolescents with asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Electronic reminders and rewards to improve adherence to inhaled asthma treatment in adolescents: a feasibility study in tertiary care.
IRAS ID
207345
Contact name
Anna De Simoni
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 29 days
Research summary
Statistics show that adolescents with asthma often have poor asthma control, experience asthma attacks and frequently visit A&E. Some adolescents prefer to rely more on quick-reliever inhalers and can forget to take their anti-inflammatory preventer inhalers, leading to poor control and risk of asthma attacks, hospital admission and even death.
Finding effective ways of helping adolescents remember to take preventer inhalers regularly is difficult. Educational programmes have had limited success.
The use of technology, such as the internet and smartphones, could help adolescents to take medication more reliably. In a New Zealand study, electronic reminder alerts improved inhaler taking in children, but effects waned after two months. In a pilot study in the USA, awarding financial incentives alongside electronic reminder alerts improved daily preventer inhaler use in African American teenagers. Using financial incentives is an area of emerging interest in healthcare, and has been used successfully in several areas (eg helping people to stop smoking). Our group completed the first UK study of incentives to help people remember to take medicines for mental health problems.Our aim is to test in a pilot study whether electronic reminders coupled with short-term (8 weeks) financial incentives, given as vouchers, are a feasible and acceptable way to help adolescents in a London hospital take their inhalers. We will recruit 10 adolescents with low asthma control score (ACT<20) and documented poor adherence to ICS inhaler treatment through previous home monitoring.
This is a 24 week study: first 8 weeks receiving electronic reminders plus financial incentives dependent on adherence to preventer inhaler, then 8 weeks routine care, and final 8 week follow up monitoring period.We will collect outcome data on adherence, asthma control (Asthma Control Test score, spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide), costs and health care use.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1384
Date of REC Opinion
31 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion