Table 3.
PHR design features
| Feature | Definition | Medication adherence results by study | |
| Positive | No difference | ||
| Reminder | Reminders to take medication or to reorder their prescriptions, agnostic to the patient’s chronic condition, demographics or any other external factor. | 11 | 1 |
| Education | Includes smaller features, like search bars and views, which can improve the user’s health literacy and understanding of their condition. | 3 | 2 |
| Personalisation and tailoring | The personalisation involves presenting a health message specific to the individual patient’s condition and demographic characteristics, while tailoring involves developing a PHR based on the individual’s characteristics.69 | 8 | 1 |
| Feedback and alerts | Medical emergency alerts in the form of a press button alert or SMS, such as the ones a user may find in the MyALERT PHR.70 | 10 | 2 |
| Gamification | An umbrella term that includes the use of game design characteristics in non-game contexts.71 | 4 | 1 |
| Medication management | Includes all the features that a chronically ill patient may need to conform to everyday life.72 | 10 | 2 |
| Medical appointment management | Medically related appointment tracking, re-scheduling and arrangement.73 | 2 | – |
| Diary and self-monitoring | A combination of features related to health or medication intake monitoring.74 | 8 | 2 |
| Health condition management | Includes all the lab and medical tests results and integration of existing clinical data.69 | 3 | 1 |
| Set goals | Includes all the elements that are necessary for setting and managing goals. | 2 | 1 |
| Patient’s blog | Includes sharing in social media or blogging regarding health.40 | 1 | – |
| Tethered | Are the PHRs which are connected with an EHR.75 | 2 | – |
EHR, electronic health record; PHR, personal health record.