Willingness to Receive Cellphone based Drug Reminders and Associated Factors Among Epileptic Patients at University of Gondar Comprehensive and Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, 2018

Abstract

Abstract Background: Poor epileptic treatment adherence compromises the effectiveness of patient’s medication and results in suboptimal illness control. This can lead to increased use of healthcare services, reduction in patients’ quality of life, and increased healthcare costs. Reminding patients’ medication intake appears to be most promising in increasing their adherence. Objective: To assess willingness to receive mobile drug reminders and identify factors associated with willingness among epileptic patients at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, North West Ethiopia. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study on 422 epileptic patients was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2018 at UOGCSH, Neurology Center. Systematic random sampling was used to select study participants. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify associated factors for willingness to receive cellphone based medication reminders. P < 0.05 at 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. Results: a total of 394 V Formatted: Heading 1, Left, Space After: 0 pt, Line spacing: single Formatted: Font color: Auto Formatted: Heading 1, Indent: Left: -0.06", Right: -0.19" Formatted: Font: Auto Formatted: Font: Not Bold, Font color: Auto Formatted: Font color: Auto Formatted: Font: 12 pt Formatted: Font: 12 pt Conclusion: 66.5% of the respondents have a cellphone and are willing to use it as a medication reminder. Marital status, place of residence, average monthly income, experience of forgetting things since they started AED, forget to take AED are the most notable factors that are associated with the willingness of patients to receive cell phone based drug reminder messages. Depending on our study result we recommend UOGCSH to implement cell phone based drug reminder messaging service for epileptic patients who have follow up in the hospital. Key words: Cell phone, drug adherence, Drug reminders, Epilepsy, Willingness.