REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1632474
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Continuing Challenge of Medication AdherenceView all 8 articles
Digital interventions in Medication Adherence: A Narrative Review of Current Evidence and Challenges
Provisionally accepted
Zoe Moon1
Jane Walsh2*- 1University College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2University of Galway, Galway, County Galway, Ireland
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Non-adherence to prescribed treatments remains a major challenge facing the healthcare system. Despite decades of research, interventions to improve adherence typically have not shown large or sustained effects on adherence and are rarely implemented. Digital technologies provide a potential platform to increase the reach and cost-effectiveness of adherence interventions, allowing them to be widely rolled out. Current evidence suggests that digital interventions can increase adherence, but results are mixed with many interventions failing to improve adherence. This is likely because whilst the included interventions all utilise digital platforms, they vary significantly in their design, content and delivery. Many interventions are not theory or evidence based, do not include patient or healthcare practitioner involvement or focus simply on providing reminders. Evidence suggests that well-designed interventions which are evidence-based, are personalised and maximise interactivity are more likely to be successful. These well-designed interventions hold promise for improving adherence at scale. This narrative review discusses the current challenges facing digital adherence interventions and describes barriers to implementation or adoption which need to be resolved. These include considering reach, accessibility, and acceptability, to avoid increasing existing health inequalities. It is also critical to consider the quality, safety and regulation of available apps and other digital tools, as well as investigating ways to enhance engagement and retention. Finally, some digital tools may require integration into existing systems or may necessitate training of relevant staff. Overall, digital interventions appear to be a promising tool for improving medication adherence, but further work is needed to optimise these tools.
Keywords: adherence, Interventions, Digital, eHealth, mHealth
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Moon and Walsh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jane Walsh, jane.walsh@universityofgalway.ie
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.