Efficacy of a Smartphone App in Enhancing Medication Adherence and Accuracy in Individuals With Schizophrenia During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background Poor medication adherence or inaccuracy in taking prescribed medications plays an important role in the recurrence or worsening of psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their medication adherence with exacerbated symptoms or relapse. The use of mobile health services increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their role in improving mental health is becoming clearer. Objective This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a smartphone app (MedAdhere) on medication adherence and accuracy among patients with schizophrenia and to measure their psychiatric symptoms and cognitive functions. Methods In this 12-week experimental study, participants were provided interventions with the MedAdhere app, and data were collected between June 2021 and September 2022. A total of 105 participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. We used the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination to measure the participants’ psychiatric symptoms and cognitive functions. Generalized estimating equations were used for data analysis. Results A total of 94 participants met the inclusion criteria and completed the protocol, and the medication adherence rate of the experimental group was 94.72% (2785/2940) during the intervention. Psychotic symptoms (positive, negative, and general psychopathology symptoms) and cognitive functions (memory, language, and executive function) were significantly improved in the experimental group compared to the control group after the intervention. Conclusions The MedAdhere app effectively and significantly improved medication adherence and, thereby, the psychiatric symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. This artificial intelligence assisted app could be extended to all patients who need to be reminded to take medication on schedule. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05892120; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05892120