{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T18:01:28Z","timestamp":1782842488595,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JMIR Form Res"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Medication nonadherence is a global public health challenge that results in suboptimal health outcomes and increases health care costs. Forgetting to take medicines is one of the most common reasons for unintentional medication nonadherence. Research findings indicate that voice-activated virtual home assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, may be useful in promoting medication adherence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study aims to create a medication adherence app (skill), MedBuddy, for Amazon Echo devices and measure the use, usability, and usefulness of this medication-taking reminder skill.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A single-group, mixed methods, cohort feasibility study was conducted with women who took oral contraceptives (N=25). Participants were undergraduate students (age: mean 21.8 years, SD 6.2) at an urban university in the Southeast United States. Participants were given an Amazon Echo Dot with MedBuddy\u2014a new medication reminder skill for Echo devices created by our team\u2014attached to their study account, which they used for 60 days. Participants self-reported their baseline and poststudy medication adherence. MedBuddy use was objectively evaluated by tracking participants\u2019 interactions with MedBuddy through Amazon Alexa. The usability and usefulness of MedBuddy were evaluated through a poststudy interview in which participants responded to both quantitative and qualitative questions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Participants\u2019 interactions with MedBuddy, as tracked through Amazon Alexa, only occurred on half of the study days (mean 50.97, SD 29.5). At study end, participants reported missing their medication less in the past 1 and 6 months compared with baseline (\u03c721=0.9 and \u03c721=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P&lt;.001 for both). However, there was no significant difference in participants\u2019 reported adherence to consistently taking medication within the same 2-hour time frame every day in the past 1 or 6 months at the end of the study compared with baseline (\u03c721=3.5 and \u03c721=0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P=.63 and P=.07, respectively). Overall feedback about usability was positive, and participants provided constructive feedback about the skill\u2019s features that could be improved. Participants\u2019 evaluation of MedBuddy\u2019s usefulness was overwhelmingly positive\u2014most (15\/23, 65%) said that they would continue using MedBuddy as a medication reminder if provided with the opportunity and that they would recommend it to others. MedBuddy features that participants enjoyed were an external prompt separate from their phone, the ability to hear the reminder prompt from a separate room, multiple reminders, and verbal responses to prompts.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The findings of this feasibility study indicate that the MedBuddy medication reminder skill may be useful in promoting medication adherence. However, the skill could benefit from further usability enhancements.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/27327","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,31]],"date-time":"2021-05-31T22:50:44Z","timestamp":1622501444000},"page":"e27327","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2706-2116","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cynthia F","family":"Corbett","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2254-6958","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elizabeth M","family":"Combs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8945-8653","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peyton 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