Intelligent Personal Assistants for Delivering Telehealth to Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Abstract

Poor adherence to osteoporosis management guidelines is associated with a higher fracture risk, with increases in subsequent utilisation of health care services and their associated health care costs. We will recruit 50 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who have current prescriptions for anti-osteoporosis medication. We will randomly allocate 25 women to receive a voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant (VIPA) device (Amazon Alexa) that will provide regular medication reminders and education related to fracture risk factors, a home-based exercise program, and nutritional advice (delivered using both audio and video functions of the VIPA device), for six months. The remaining 25 women will receive general information about managing osteoporosis via monthly emails. We will compare osteoporosis self-management behaviours (medication adherence, physical activity and dietary nutrient intakes) in both groups for 12 months. We will also assess usability and acceptability of VIPAs in the intervention group. We hypothesise that women randomised to the VIPA intervention group will demonstrate greater anti-osteoporosis medication adherence, higher physical activity levels and greater intakes of protein and calcium compared with women in the control group.