Mobile Health for Alcohol Use Disorders in Clinical Practice

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

Patients in the trial will be given versions of an evidence-based mobile-health (mHealth) system (re-design based on A-CHESS) that is delivered using different implementation strategies according to study group. A-CHESS has more than 18 services designed to improve social relatedness, coping compete...

Patients in the trial will be given versions of an evidence-based mobile-health (mHealth) system (re-design based on A-CHESS) that is delivered using different implementation strategies according to study group. A-CHESS has more than 18 services designed to improve social relatedness, coping competence, and intrinsic motivation. The following describes key A-CHESS services that will be tested in the current study: Welcome message - patients write why they are choosing to reduce their drinking. Coping with Cravings - the system automatically notifies nearby pre-approved friends, family, and peers, who can respond to a request for support. The patient can also be linked to positive activities, such as suggested games to download and play and audio/video-based relaxation recordings. Monitoring functionality- self-assessment measures, record of A-CHESS use, and prediction of the patient's likelihood of having a heavy drinking episode in the next week. A-CHESS sends patients with worrisome responses suggestions of coping skills, online peer support, healthy events, etc. With patient permission, a prediction of high-risk can be shared with others in a position to provide support. Triage and feedback functionality is designed to derail a setback in goal attainment, giving the patient 'just in time,' tailored support by linking patients to relevant A-CHESS resources or individuals (depending on group assignment). The Specialist Report, harvests clinically relevant data from A-CHESS and presents it to a peer mentor (in the peer-supported group) or a health coach (in the clinically integrated group), at which point they may intervene with patients (e.g., through texting in A-CHESS). Facilitated discussion groups (in the clinically integrated group.) Discussions are monitored daily by an A-CHESS coach. Library - information about healthy lifestyle choices, calendar of healthy events in the area, etc. Drink tracker and report feature - patients to self-monitor their drinking and each week see a summary of how they did the past week. Profiles about why patients want to reduce their drinking. All patients enrolled in the study will participate in a 3-month intervention period followed by a 9-month follow-up period, for a total of 12 months. All patient will undergo a 72-hour run-in period. After 72 hours, patients who remain in the study will be randomized to one of the following groups and receive the appropriate access to features. One group will operate independently; one group will have help from a peer-mentor; one group will be connected to a healthcare system by a health coach.

Tracking Information