Mobile Health for Alcohol Use Disorders in Clinical Practice

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.