A novel digital health intervention to improve patient engagement to stimulants in adult ADHD in the primary care setting: Preliminary findings from an open label study

Summary & key facts

Researchers tested a new program that sent text messages to adults with ADHD who were taking stimulant medicine. About 120 people used the text-message program and most stayed in it for the full month. People who got the texts were much more likely to refill their stimulant prescriptions on time than similar patients who did not get the texts. The study is an early, open-label test, so the results are promising but not yet proof that texting will work for everyone.

Key facts:

• The study enrolled about 120 adults aged 18 to 55 who were prescribed stimulant medicine for ADHD and gave them a text-message program designed to boost engagement with treatment.
• Ninety-six percent of people in the text-message group completed the program for 37 days.
• Eighty-one percent of people who got the text messages refilled their stimulant prescription on time, compared with about 36 percent of similar patients who received usual care without texts.
• The researchers checked prescription records to decide who refilled on time instead of asking the patients directly.
• The positive result did not depend on whether the prescribing doctor was a psychiatrist or a non-psychiatry primary care doctor.
• The authors describe this as preliminary and open-label, which means the study was an early test and people knew they were getting the text messages rather than being placed into hidden or random treatment groups.

Topics

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Psychiatry and Mental health

Tags

Economic growth Economics Family medicine Health care Intervention (counseling) Medical prescription Medical record Medicine Nursing Psychiatry Radiology Stimulant

Conditions & symptoms

ADHD Difficulty focusing