Time-of-Day Differences in Treatment-Related Habit Strength and Adherence

Abstract Background Many of our daily behaviors are habitual, occurring automatically in response to learned contextual cues, and with minimal need for cognitive and self-regulatory resources. Behavioral habit strength predicts adherence to actions, including to medications. The time of day (morning...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of behavioral medicine 2021-03, Vol.55 (3), p.280-285
Main Authors: Phillips, L Alison, Burns, Edith, Leventhal, Howard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brief Report
Drug dosages
Drug use
Habits
Health behavior
Health psychology
Memory
Patient compliance
Prescription drugs
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Many of our daily behaviors are habitual, occurring automatically in response to learned contextual cues, and with minimal need for cognitive and self-regulatory resources. Behavioral habit strength predicts adherence to actions, including to medications. The time of day (morning vs. evening) may influence adherence and habit strength to the degree that stability of contexts/routines varies throughout the day. Purpose The current study evaluates whether patients are more adherent to morning versus evening doses of medication and if morning doses show evidence of greater habit strength than evening doses. Methods Objective adherence data (exact timing of pill dosing) were collected in an observational study by electronic monitoring pill bottles in a sample of patients on twice-daily pills for Type 2 diabetes (N = 51) over the course of 1 month. Results Data supported the hypothesis that patients would miss fewer morning than evening pills. However, counter to the hypothesis, variability in dose timing (an indicator of habit strength) was not significantly different for morning versus evening pills. Conclusions Findings suggest that medication adherence may be greater in the morning than in the evening. However, more research is needed to evaluate the role of habitual action in this greater adherence. Furthermore, future research should evaluate the validity of behavioral timing consistency as an indicator of habit strength. Patients on twice-daily oral medication for Type 2 Diabetes were more adherent in the morning (vs evening). Exact timing of morning and evening doses was equally variable, suggesting habitual action may not have caused greater morning adherence.
ISSN:0883-6612
1532-4796
DOI:10.1093/abm/kaaa042