Medication Adherence Patterns in Rheumatic Diseases: A Behavioral Trial

Non-adherence to evidence-based prescription medications results in preventable morbidity and mortality for middle-aged and older adults. Taking medications intended for daily use, like those to prevent or treat chronic conditions, is a repetitive action that has great similarity with other behaviors that must be performed consistently, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and hand washing. In these cases, people who act consistently do so out of habit. The "repetition-cue-reward" model proposes that habit formation has three central components: behavioral repetition, associated context cues, and rewards. This model has obvious applicability to the daily repetitive activity of medication-taking but has not been tested for this behavior nor adapted as an intervention for patients in real-world care settings. The goal of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using the repetition-cue-reward model of healthy habit formation to improve medication adherence in patients with arthritis and other rheumatic diseases.