Sharing Our Experience. Case #1

What conclusion drew our data scientists after analyzing usage statistics of the Life4me+ mobile app?

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People download the app

but do not start using it.

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So, you have downloaded the app, but still do not understand how it can help you in your daily life? How could you start managing your personal health and HIV status with only a gadget?

That’s why we have decided to begin a stream of educational posts, where we will share our experience on setting up the Life4me+ mobile app and the best practices on using it on a daily basis. Today we will show you how to activate the app’s core functionality — smart daily notifications about taking your meds just in time.

Initial steps after downloading the app are explained on the instructions page — https://life4me.plus/ru/instructions

 Why particular notifications?

Taking your ART pills daily and on a regular schedule is a key to successful treatment. Your life expectancy depends on how will you develop a daily habit of taking pills in exact time. Sadly it's truth - a lot of HIV-positive people died quickly last decade, most of them because they didn't  by the reason did not develop the habit of taking pills every day in exact time.   Many of them were informed that it’s very important not to miss any of medications taking. It’s also critical to avoid drug taking according to a belief “I'll take when I remember” or “I'll take when I have time.” It’s very easy to forget about taking a portion of your daily meds.

Many patients have to hide the fact of taking pills. For example, when you’re at work, it could be awkward to get notifications on your smartphone each day at 10 o’clock prompt. To avoid such an obstacle, people disable alarm on their phone, assuming that it's only for a short time often forgetting to turn the alarm clock back on. Without a reminder, such a person can neglect to taking the pill on time beginning to worry, starting to search the Internet for answers to the question "What if I missed pills?". Somebody could find the answer like "For ART to be effective in controlling HIV, patients must take ART pills every day at least 95% of the time," justifying missing the pill again and again. 

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...it could be awkward to get notifications on your smartphone each day at 10 o’clock prompt

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But the modern approach to HIV-infection treatment assumes avoiding skipping your pills. So you’re in a risk, but you could manage it!

_____________________________________________________________________________Let's make an example.  Dasha is 27 years old HIV-positive woman; she works as a project manager in an engineering company. She has to get her pills every morning at 9 a.m. Dasha set up notifications at that time on her phone. Each time her phone rings, she goes out from her office to take ART drugs._____________________________________________________________________________
Having scrutinizing a bunch of cases like Dasha's one, we have thought up a “smart alarm.” Just set the time intervals when you have to take your medicines and the gadget will notify you randomly in the period you have set. Notification message could look like whatever you want, for example, “Call mom.”
In next post of “Sharing Our Experience” series, we will show you how Dasha contrived to set up the “smart alarm notification system” and stopped getting nervous while taking pills at work.
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If you still haven’t downloaded the app, it’s high time to do it right now!
 
for Android users - https://goo.gl/mBjm4B

for iPhone users - https://goo.gl/Isgl6Z

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