The effect of reminder mobile application use on medication adherence after total thyroidectomy

This study was conducted to examine the effect of using a reminder mobile application on medication adherence in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy. The research is a randomized controlled interventional study designed according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guide. The sample of the study consisted of 63 patients (application group 31, control group 32) who underwent surgery at Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine General Surgery Clinic and Isparta City Hospital General Surgery Clinic, met the sample inclusion criteria and approved to participate in the research. Application group patients used the reminder mobile application for eight weeks; Control group patients received standard care during this period. The data of the study were collected at the 1st, 4th and 8th weeks using the personal information form, medication protocol information form, complication monitoring form and Morisky 8-Item Medication Compliance Scale. In addition to descriptive statistics, Chi-Square, Independent Sample T test, Repeated Measures ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U and Friedman test were used to evaluate the data. It was determined that the Morisky-8 Medication Compliance Scale total score averages in the application (x̄=6.58) and control (x̄=5.71) groups showed a statistically significant difference at the 4th week (p=0.016). No significant difference was detected in the 1st and 8th weeks (p>0.05). When the results of the Morisky-8 Medication Compliance Scale were examined according to cut-off points (low, medium, high compliance), it was determined that the 8th week results of the application and control groups showed a statistically significant difference (x2 = 9.6; p = 0.008). In line with the findings, it is seen that the use of reminder mobile applications after total thyroidectomy increases medication compliance. However, it is recommended to conduct studies showing mobile application usage statistics in order to explain the lack of difference in medication compliance between the application and control groups in the following weeks.