Feasibility of Smartphones for Real-time Assessment of Adherence Behavior and Symptom Exacerbation for High Risk Youth and Adolescents with Asthma: A Pilot Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Background: Youth with asthma who have poor medication adherence, limited access to care, and are frequently seen in the acute care setting are often termed "high risk." Objective: Our purpose was to design and test the feasibility of using smartphone technology to assess contextual factors that may impact changes in daily medication adherence and identify new symptom episodes among high risk youth with asthma in their home environment. Methods: Youth 8-17 years with high risk asthma from two children's hospitals were eligible for the 2-month study. An App was downloaded on participants' phones at enrollment. Daily text reminders were sent to complete ecological momentary assessment of asthma symptoms and other contextual factors such as emotional state using the App. Bluetooth inhaler devices were used to record timestamps of inhaler use with the ability to review and manually enter data. Acceptability was assessed with surveys, key informant