Demand analysis of an intelligent medication administration system for older adults with chronic diseases based on...

Gerontechnology has great potential in promoting older adults' well-being. With the accelerated aging process, gerontechnology has a promising market prospect. However, most technological developers and healthcare professionals attached importance to products' effectiveness, and ignored older adults' demands and user experience, which reduced older adults' adoption intention of gerontechnology use. The inclusion of older adults in the design process of technologies is essential to maximize the effect. This study explored older adults' demands for a self-developed intelligent medication administration system and proposed optimization schemes, thus providing reference to developing geriatric-friendly technologies and products.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to explore older adults' technological demands for the self-developed intelligent medication administration system, and data were analyzed based on the Kano model. A self-made questionnaire was administered from July 2020 to October 2020 after participants used this system for two weeks. The study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000040644).

A total of 354 older adults participated in the survey. Four items, namely larger font size, simpler operation process, scheduled medication reminders and reliable hardware, were classified as must-be attributes; three items, namely searching drug instructions through WeChat, more sensitive system and longer battery life, as attractive attributes; one item, viewing disease-related information through WeChat, as the one-dimensional attribute; and the rest were indifferent attributes, including simple and beautiful displays, blocking advertisements automatically, providing user privacy protection protocol, viewing personal medical information only by logged-in users, recording all the medications, ordering medications through WeChat. The satisfaction values were between 0.24 and 0.69, and dissatisfaction values were between 0.06 and 0.94.

This study suggested that older adults had personalized technology demands. Including their technological demands and desire may assist in decreasing the digital divide and promoting the satisfaction of e-health and/or m-health. Based on older adults' demands, our study proposed optimization schemes of the intelligent medication administration system, which may help developers design geriatric-friendly intelligent products and nurses to perform older adults-centered and efficient medication management.