A Web Based and Mobile Health Social Support Intervention to Promote Adherence to Inhaled Asthma Medications: Randomized Controlled Trial
Background Online communities hold great potential as interventions for health, particularly for the management of chronic illness. The social support that online communities can provide has been associated with positive treatment outcomes, including medication adherence. There are few studies that have attempted to assess whether membership of an online community improves health outcomes using rigorous designs. Objective Our objective was to conduct a rigorous proof of concept randomized controlled trial of an online community intervention for improving adherence to asthma medicine. Methods This 9 week intervention included a sample of asthmatic adults from the United Kingdom who were prescribed an inhaled corticosteroid preventer. Participants were recruited via email and randomized to either an "online community" or "no online community" (diary) condition. After each instance of preventer use, participants (N=216) were required to report the number of doses of medication taken in a short post. Those randomized to the online community condition (n=99) could read the posts of other community members, reply, and create their own posts. Participants randomized to the no online community condition (n=117) also posted their medication use, but could not read others' posts. The main outcome measures were self reported medication adherence at baseline and follow up (9 weeks postbaseline) and an objective measure of adherence to the intervention (visits to site) Results In all, 103 participants completed the study (intervention: 37.8% 39/99; control: 62.2% 64/117) MANCOVA of self reported adherence to asthma preventer medicine at follow up was not significantly different between conditions in either intention to treat (P=.92) or per protocol (P=.68) analysis. Site use was generally higher in the control compared to intervention conditions. Conclusions Joining an online community did not improve adherence to preventer medication for asthma patients. Without the encouragement of greater community support or more components to sustain engagement over time, the current findings do not support the use of an online community to improve adherence. ClinicalTrial International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 29399269; http:/www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN29399269/29399269 (Archived by WebCite at http:/www.webcitation.org/6fUbEuVoT)
Journal of medical Internet research