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A serious puzzle game to enhance adherence to antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: systematic development using Intervention Mapping.

Pouls, B.P.H., Bekker, C.L., Dulmen, S. van, Vriezekolk, J.E., Bemt, B.J.F. van den. A serious puzzle game to enhance adherence to antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: systematic development using Intervention Mapping. JMIR Serious Games: 2022, 10(1), p. Art. nr. e31570.
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Background
Patients' implicit attitudes toward medication need and concerns may influence their adherence. Targeting these implicit attitudes by combining game-entertainment with medication-related triggers might improve medication adherence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Objective
The aim of this study was to describe the systematic development of a serious game to enhance adherence to antirheumatic drugs by using intervention mapping.

Methods
A serious game was developed using the intervention mapping framework guided by a multidisciplinary expert group, which proceeded along 6 steps: (1) exploring the problem by assessing the relationship between medication adherence and implicit attitudes, (2) defining change objectives, (3) selecting evidence-based behavior change techniques that focused on adjusting implicit attitudes, (4) designing the intervention, (5) guaranteeing implementation by focusing on intrinsic motivation, and (6) planning a scientific evaluation.

Results
Based on the problem assessment and guided by the Dual-Attitude Model, implicit negative and illness-related attitudes of patients with RA were defined as the main target for the intervention. Consequently, the change objective was "after the intervention, participants have a more positive attitude toward antirheumatic drugs." Attention bias modification, evaluative conditioning, and goal priming were the techniques chosen to implicitly target medication needs. These techniques were redesigned into medication-related triggers and built in the serious puzzle game. Thirty-seven patients with RA tested the game at several stages. Intrinsic motivation was led by the self-determination theory and addressed the 3 needs, that is, competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The intervention will be evaluated in a randomized clinical trial that assesses the effect of playing the serious game on antirheumatic drug adherence.

Conclusions
We systematically developed a serious game app to enhance adherence to antirheumatic drugs among patients with RA by using the intervention mapping framework. This paper could serve as a guideline for other health care providers when developing similar interventions.