“Alexa… what pills do I need to take today?”

Beaney, Paul; Kalirai, Hardip Singh; Chambers, Ruth

doi:10.1002/psb.1849

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 1113 2 of 13 cost, may foster older adults' abilities to manage chronic conditions [12][13][14] and support independent living [13][14][15][16][17] and may reduce actual or perceived caregiver burdens [14,16]. Research findings suggest that many older adults are interested in learning about and using technology to promote their independence, function, and ability to age in place [5,12,16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers in the United Kingdom placed VHAs in the residences of 30 older adults with chronic conditions. Preliminary results indicated that the VHAs promoted independent living [12], mental health [12], and chronic condition management behaviors such as medication adherence [13]. Chronic conditions require management and are often associated with functional impairments, leading to the need for support from family and friends (i.e., informal/formal caregivers) to enable continued aging in place [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual Home Assistant Use and Perceptions of Usefulness by Older Adults and Support Person Dyads

Corbett

Wright

Owens

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Aim: Describe virtual home assistant use and usefulness from the perspective of older adults and their support persons. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study with older adults and their support persons (n = 10 dyads). Virtual home assistant (VHA) equipment was installed in participants’ homes, and its use was documented for 60 days. Participants received protocol-guided telephone calls to address their VHA questions or problems. The type and frequency of VHA use were summarized with descriptive statistics. End-of-study interviews about VHA use were conducted with dyad participants. Qualitative content analyses were used to describe the interview findings about the dyad’s perceptions of using the VHA, how it was used, any difficulties experienced, and suggestions for future VHA uses. Results: Participant dyads reported positive VHA perceptions, including the potential for VHAs to promote aging in place. Participants discussed the challenges learning the technology and replacing old habits with new ones. Participants offered recommendations for future VHA skills and for more education and training about using the VHA. Conclusions: The study findings suggest that VHAs may be useful for older adults as they age in place and offer reassurance for support persons.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Home Assistant Use and Perceptions of Usefulness by Older Adults and Support Person Dyads

Corbett

Wright

Owens

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Research findings indicate that voice-activated virtual home assistants (VHAs) such as Amazon Echo and Google Home devices may be useful in promoting medication adherence [ 22 , 23 ]. Amazon currently holds more than 70% of the market share of VHAs [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, no study has specifically evaluated users’ perceptions of their effectiveness. Beaney et al [ 22 ] suggested that Amazon’s medication reminder skill could benefit from more development. For example, it does not have a feature for as-needed medications, that is, those not taken on a regular schedule [ 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beaney et al [ 22 ] suggested that Amazon’s medication reminder skill could benefit from more development. For example, it does not have a feature for as-needed medications, that is, those not taken on a regular schedule [ 22 ]. Furthermore, Amazon’s general medication reminder skill provides only 1 reminder and does not allow the user to record whether the medicine was taken as prescribed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Corbett¹,

Combs²,

Chandarana³

et al. 2021

JMIR Form Res

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Background 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. Objective 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. Methods 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—a new medication reminder skill for Echo devices created by our team—attached 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’ 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. Results Participants’ 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 ( χ 2 1 =0.9 and χ 2 1 =0.4, respectively; McNemar test: P <.001 for both). However, there was no significant difference in participants’ 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 ( χ 2 1 =3.5 and χ 2 1 =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’s features that could be improved. Participants’ evaluation of MedBuddy’s usefulness was overwhelmingly positive—most (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 remi...

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Responsible nudging for social good: new healthcare skills for AI-driven digital personal assistants

Capasso

Umbrello

2021

Med Health Care and Philos

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Traditional medical practices and relationships are changing given the widespread adoption of AI-driven technologies across the various domains of health and healthcare. In many cases, these new technologies are not specific to the field of healthcare. Still, they are existent, ubiquitous, and commercially available systems upskilled to integrate these novel care practices. Given the widespread adoption, coupled with the dramatic changes in practices, new ethical and social issues emerge due to how these systems nudge users into making decisions and changing behaviours. This article discusses how these AI-driven systems pose particular ethical challenges with regards to nudging. To confront these issues, the value sensitive design (VSD) approach is adopted as a principled methodology that designers can adopt to design these systems to avoid harming and contribute to the social good. The AI for Social Good (AI4SG) factors are adopted as the norms constraining maleficence. In contrast, higher-order values specific to AI, such as those from the EU High-Level Expert Group on AI and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, are adopted as the values to be promoted as much as possible in design. The use case of Amazon Alexa's Healthcare Skills is used to illustrate this design approach. It provides an exemplar of how designers and engineers can begin to orientate their design programs of these technologies towards the social good.

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“Alexa… what pills do I need to take today?”

Abstract: Can personal digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa help to improve patients’ adherence to their medicines? Here, the authors discuss the potential and the limitations of this technology, and describe their pilot study in patients with diabetes and other underlying health conditions.

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Virtual Home Assistant Use and Perceptions of Usefulness by Older Adults and Support Person Dyads

Virtual Home Assistant Use and Perceptions of Usefulness by Older Adults and Support Person Dyads

Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study

Responsible nudging for social good: new healthcare skills for AI-driven digital personal assistants

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