Feature
Rethinking agency and medical adherence technology: applying Actor Network Theory to the case study of Digital Pills
Abstract
Much literature surrounding medical technology and adherence posits that technology is a mechanism for social control. This assumes that the medical establishment can take away patients' agency. Although power relationships and social control can play a key role, medical technology can also serve as an agentive tool to be utilized. We (1) offer the alternative framework of Actor Network Theory to view medical technology, (2) discuss the literature on medication adherence and technology, (3) delve into the ramifications of looking at adherence as a network and (4) use Digital Pills as a case study of dispersed agency.
Citing Literature
Number of times cited according to CrossRef: 3
- Azita Alipour, Stephen Gabrielson, Puja Baldev Patel, Ingestible Sensors and Medication Adherence: Focus on Use in Serious Mental Illness, Pharmacy, 10.3390/pharmacy8020103, 8, 2, (103), (2020).
- Alejandra Hurtado-de-Mendoza, Mark L. Cabling, Asma Dilawari, Jeanine Warisse Turner, Nicole C. Fernández, Alesha Henderson, Qi Zhu, Sara Gómez-Trillos, Vanessa B. Sheppard, Providers’ perspectives on adherence to hormonal therapy in breast cancer survivors. Is there a role for the digital health feedback system?, Health and Technology, 10.1007/s12553-018-0267-x, (2018).
- Pankaj Gupta, Prashanth Patel, Robert Horne, Heather Buchanan, Bryan Williams, Maciej Tomaszewski, How to Screen for Non-Adherence to Antihypertensive Therapy, Current Hypertension Reports, 10.1007/s11906-016-0697-7, 18, 12, (2016).
