Improving medication adherence in stroke survivors: the intervention development process

Medications targeting stroke risk factors have shown good efficacy, yet adherence is suboptimal. A lack of underlying theory may contribute to the ineffectiveness of eliciting or sustaining behaviour change in many existing interventions targeting medication adherence in stroke. Intervention effectiveness and implementation could be enhanced by consideration of evidence base and theory to drive development. The purpose of this study is to identify appropriate components for a theory-driven and evidence-based medication adherence intervention for stroke survivors.

The Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW), a guide to intervention development, informed our systematic process of intervention development. Our earlier systematic review had identified important determinants of medication adherence that were mapped into the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), with Knowledge, Beliefs about consequences and Emotions found to be more influential. Utilising the BCW facilitated selection of intervention options and behaviour change techniques (BCTs); the active ingredients within an intervention. To further refine BCT selection, APEASE criteria were employed, allowing evaluation of potential BCTs within context: The National Health Service (NHS), United Kingdom (UK).

Five intervention functions (Education, Persuasion, Training, Environmental Restructuring and Enablement) and five policy categories (Communication/marketing, Guidelines, Regulation, Environmental/social planning and Service provision) were identified as potential intervention options, underpinned by our systematic review findings. Application of APEASE criteria led to an initial pool of 21 BCTs being reduced to 11 (e.g. Habit Formation, Information about Health Consequences and Action Planning) identified as potential intervention components that would both be feasible and directly target the underlying determinants of stroke survivors’ medication adherence.

Careful consideration of underlying evidence and theory to drive intervention design, facilitated by the BCW, enabled identification of appropriate intervention components. BCTs including Habit Formation, Information about Health Consequences and Self-monitoring of Behaviour were considered potentially effective and appropriate to deliver within the NHS. Having reduced the pool of potential intervention components to a manageable number, it will now be possible to explore the perceived acceptability of selected BCTs in interviews with stroke survivors and healthcare professionals. This approach to intervention development should be generalisable to other chronic conditions and areas of behaviour change (e.g. exercise adherence).