Activity-Aware Prompting to Improve Medication Adherence in Heart Failure Patients

The investigators hypothesize that many individuals with needs for medicine intervention can be more compliant with their medicine regimen if prompts are provided at the right times and in the right context. They will validate the hypothesis by designing and evaluating machine learning-based software algorithms that recognize daily activities, provide activity-aware medicine reminder interventions and provide insights on intervention timings that yield successful compliance.

The first aim of the project is to expand and validate software algorithms that recognize daily activities and activity transitions with mobile devices. The hypothesis is that daily behavior contexts can be characterized and tracked with minimal user input using machine learning combined with automated activity discovery. In earlier work, the investigators had demonstrated the success of our algorithms in smart homes. In this project, they propose to adapt the techniques for mobile devices.

The second aim of the project is to develop activity-sensitive medicine prompting and assess the impact of activity-sensitive prompting on the primary outcome of medication adherence rates and the secondary outcome of quality of life. To this end, this goal can be decomposed into two tasks including (a) developing activity-sensitive prompting; (b) assessing the impact of activity-sensitive prompting on patient outcomes. The investigators will combine an activity prompting interface with activity recognition to deliver prompts in contexts with demonstrated success.

Finally, in the third aim, the investigators design machine learning algorithms to analyze medicine reminder success and failure situations. They hypothesize that machine learning techniques can be used to automatically predict prompt compliance by using computer algorithms to learn how to distinguish successful from unsuccessful prompt situations. In their approach, the investigators utilize sensor data to analyze daily behavior and link behavior context with medicine adherence.

Inclusion criteria

• have a diagnosis of HF and recently hospitalized for HF exacerbation
• age ≥ 21 years;
• live independently (not in an institutional setting); and
• willing to carry the smartphone throughout the day.

Exclusion criteria

• any serious co-morbidities (e.g. malignancy, neurological disorder),
• impaired cognition,
• inability to understand, read, write, or speak English or Spanish
• major or uncorrected hearing or vision loss.