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Objectives: The aim of this study was to a) explore barriers and facilitators associated with medication-taking habit formation, and b) elicit feedback on the components of an intervention designed to help form strong habits for long-term medication adherence., Design: The study design was qualitative; we conducted semistructured interviews between September 2021 and February 2022., Setting: The interviews were conducted online, with 27 participants recruited at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California., Participants: A purposive sample of 20 patients who were over 18 years of age, had been diagnosed with hypertensive disorder (or reported high blood pressure; >140/90 mm Hg) and who were prescribed antihypertensive therapy at the time of recruitment, along with seven providers were interviewed., Results: Contextual factors included frequent changes to prescription for regimen adjustment, and polypharmacy. Forgetfulness, perceived need for medication, and routine disruptions were identified as possible barriers to habit formation. Facilitators of habit formation included identification of stable routines for anchoring, planning, use of external reminders (including visual reminders) and pillboxes for prescription management, and extrinsic motivation for forming habits. Interestingly, experiencing medication side effects was identified as a possible barrier and a possible facilitator of habit formation. Feedback on study components included increasing text size, and visual appeal of the habit leaflet; and imparting variation in text message content and adjusting their frequency to once a day. Patients generally favoured the use of conditional financial incentives to support habit formation., Conclusion: The study sheds light on some key considerations concerning the contextual factors for habit formation among people with hypertension. As such, future studies may evaluate the generalisability of our findings, consider the role of visual reminders in habit formation and sustenance, and explore possible disruptions to habits., Trial Registration Number: NCT04029883., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Non-adherence to antihypertensive therapy is one of the major barriers to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Several interventions have targeted higher medication adherence, yet most do not result in sustained adherence. Routinisation has emerged as a potential method for mitigating this problem, but requires high motivation during the relatively long habit formation phase. This pilot randomised controlled trial aims to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of behavioural economics-based incentives and text messages to support the routinisation of the medication-taking behaviour for promoting long-term medication adherence., Methods and Analysis: This study will recruit and randomly assign 60 adult patients seeking care for hypertension at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to one of the three groups, Control (n=20), Messages (n=20) and Incentives (n=20) in a 1:1:1 ratio. All participants will receive information about the importance of routinisation and will select an existing behavioural routine ('anchor') to which they will tie their pill-taking to, and the corresponding time. Additionally, participants in the Messages group will receive daily text messages reminding them of the importance of routines, while those in the Incentives group will receive daily text messages and conditional prize drawings. The interventions will be delivered over three months. Participants will be followed for six months post-intervention to measure behavioural persistence. Surveys will be administered at baseline, month-3 and month-9 visits. Primary outcomes include: (1) electronically measured mean medication adherence during the intervention period and (2) post-intervention period; and (3) mean timely medication adherence based around the time of the participants' anchor during the intervention period, and (4) post-intervention period., Ethics and Dissemination: The study was approved by the Cedars-Sinai Institutional Review Board (Study ID: Pro00057764). Findings will be published in scientific peer-reviewed journals., Trial Registration Number: NCT04029883., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)