This scoping review examined recent evidence on digital behavioral interventions intended to improve medication adherence in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The authors aimed to summarize intervention strategies, the digital platforms used for delivery, adherence measurement methods, and reported effects on adherence and glycemic outcomes. The review focused on studies that evaluated digital approaches and sought to identify common components incorporated into successful interventions.
The review identified 32 studies that used a range of digital delivery methods. Platforms and modalities reported across the included literature included mobile applications, short message service (SMS) messaging, telemedicine systems, conversational artificial intelligence (chatbots), and various remote monitoring technologies. Rather than documenting novel modalities, recent work emphasized adapting and combining existing digital channels to provide behavioral support and to facilitate clinical interaction and monitoring.
Studies used heterogeneous measures to quantify medication adherence. Common approaches reported were self-reported adherence questionnaires, medication-taking records (for example, logs captured within digital tools or patient-entered records), and refill-based measures. The review highlights that refill data do not necessarily equate to actual medication ingestion, citing the distinction between refills and confirmed intake as an important methodological consideration for adherence assessment.
Most studies included in the review reported improvements in medication adherence following digital behavioral interventions. In addition to adherence metrics, several studies assessed glycemic outcomes and observed improvements, most commonly measured by A1C. The review therefore indicates a pattern in which enhanced adherence through digital supports is frequently associated with better glycemic control, though the specific magnitude and consistency of clinical benefit across all studies are not detailed in the abstract.
Across effective interventions, certain components were frequently combined:
The review emphasizes that multifaceted interventions—those integrating reminders, education, monitoring, and communication—were commonly associated with improved adherence and engagement.
Recent advances described in the review focused on increasing personalization of digital behavioral supports, improving interoperability and integration across platforms, and enhancing interactive patient support. Rather than introducing entirely new digital modalities, current efforts prioritize tailoring content and delivery to individual needs, linking tools across digital ecosystems, and providing more interactive or conversational engagement (for example, via chatbots or telemedicine interfaces).
These trends reflect a shift toward systems that can support long-term self-management through ongoing behavioral support, monitoring, and two-way communication with care teams.
The abstract notes that the article is a scoping review and summarizes findings from the included studies; detailed methodological limitations of individual studies are not described in the abstract. The authors declare no competing interests and state that the article does not contain studies with human or animal subjects performed by the authors (that is, it is a review). MeSH terms indexed for the review include Adherence Interventions, Digital Health, Mobile Applications, Telemedicine, and Hypoglycemic Agents, reflecting the topics covered.
Digital behavioral interventions are increasingly used to promote medication adherence in T2D. Clinicians and program designers should note that interventions combining reminders, education, self-monitoring, and patient–provider communication are frequently effective. Emphasis on personalization and platform integration may enhance long-term engagement and support improved glycemic outcomes, most commonly reflected by reductions in A1C.
The abstract provides broad synthesis and key themes but does not report detailed study-level effect sizes, follow-up durations, specific adherence instruments used in every study, or subgroup analyses. For those details and for critical appraisal of study quality, readers should consult the full text and the individual studies cited by the review.
This review is published in Current Diabetes Reports and lists 82 references; the abstract reports key background citations and situates findings within existing frameworks for adherence and digital health. The review uses the scoping methodology to map the literature on digital behavioral approaches to medication adherence in T2D and to highlight common components and recent trends.