Table 2.

Self-management needs and desired features of a chatbot for hypertension medication self-management

Themes for user needs	Representative selected quotes
Medications
List of current and past medications	“I can never remember the name [of the medication]…I wonder if that [chatbot] may be able to hold a history on your medications.” (P7) “It would be lovely to load in my medications because I have an extensive list.” (P8)
Reminders	“If it could prompt me only on days where there’s a high probability that I forgot [to take the medications], like weekends and holidays…” (P9) “I might only need my reminder once every three or four days to make sure that I’m where I need to be with my medications…” (P5)
Information about medications and side effects	“I'll use various websites, sometimes WebMD or Mayo Clinic, to see what they're giving me and what side effects I can look for…I always ask how it interacts with my other medicine, and if I’m allowed to adjust the times according to what works best for me.” (P2)
Refills
Reminders to order and pick-up medications	“If that system worked the way you really wanted, you would put in your medication, milligrams, frequency, and how often it refills. Then, it’ll prompt you and say, ‘It’s time to refill your medicine.’” (P6) “When [the chatbot] says, ‘Okay, it’s time for a refill,’ [I’d say] ‘Can you request the refill without me going through the extra steps?’” (P3)
Number of refills left and dates of next refill and expiration	“It might be useful to see the refill date so I would know without having to count how many I have left.” (P11) “It'd be nice for my health professionals to help keep up when the prescriptions expire because I run into that a lot…Send a reminder or set it up so that it lets me know, ‘You have one month of it left.’” (P8)
Communication with care team
Sharing health information	“It’d be really cool if there was some way when I take my blood pressure I could get it into my medical records…If the chatbot was something where I could put in my readings, when I go to my doctor, [I could] bring it in or go through it with the nurse during our quarterly call.” (P4) “I got one doctor that’s my primary doctor, and I’ve got two more doctors which are my cancer doctors. They ask me about each other. That right there’d be able to help me communicate; get them on the same level.” (P7)
Appointment scheduling and reminders	“It would be helpful if the chatbot could remind me a month before, ‘You need to schedule your appointment.’ Or, ‘It’s time for your physical.’” (P10) “I would much rather schedule my appointments through [the chatbot] than having to call. I don’t like calling because they want me to repeat my entire life story and give all my information to a person I don’t know.” (P14)
Healthy lifestyles
Health tracking and compatibility with apps	“A lot of times my weight and blood pressure are tracked through my MyChart app…If all of that can be fed into the chatbot, it would be a better tracker because it would have a more rounded view.” (P8) “MyFitnessPal has weight. Fitbit can do weight…An application like this probably should tie into both. I’d be interested in letting them connect.” (P9)
Feedback and encouragement	“Apple has the Health app, and it tracks everything…it actually reads from MyChart app now. It collects but, it doesn’t communicate. At best, it tells you [that] you have new information in your chart…[The chatbot is] a place where you can actually have almost a dialogue.” (P12) “If there was some type of way [the chatbot] was able to check what my blood pressure was at the time it’s elevated, then it would [say], ‘It’s time to take a break. Maybe you should go for a walk.’” (P10)
Accountability	“I think it would be great because it’s telling you, ‘Do it’…With MyFitnessPal, I’m just looking to see how many steps I did. With that one, it’s going to probably prompt you for more things.” (P6) “It can probably track my last time taking my weight…It’s on you at all times, so that’s what I like about that.” (P7)