Theory-Guided Randomized Neural Networks for Decoding Medication-Taking Behavior

IEEE EMBS Int Conf Biomed Health Inform. 2021 Jul:2021:10.1109/bhi50953.2021.9508614. doi: 10.1109/bhi50953.2021.9508614. Epub 2021 Aug 10.

Abstract

Long-term endocrine therapy (e.g. Tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors) is crucial to prevent breast cancer recurrence, yet rates of adherence to these medications are low. To develop, evaluate, and sustain future interventions, individual-level modeling can be used to understand breast cancer survivors' behavioral mechanisms of medication-taking. This paper presents interdisciplinary research, wherein a model employing randomized neural networks was developed to predict breast cancer survivors' daily medication-taking behavior based on their survey data over three time periods (baseline, 4 months, 8 months). The neural network structure was guided by random utility theory developed in psychology and behavioral economics. Comparative analysis indicates that the proposed model outperforms existing computational models in terms of prediction accuracy under conditions of randomness.

Keywords: choice model; medication adherence; random utility maximization; randomized neural networks.