Use of Mobile Applications in Smoking, Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders

Year 2023, Volume: 15 Issue: 3, 518 - 533, 30.09.2023

Halil İbrahim Bilkay , Nermin Gürhan , Burak Şirin

https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1181096

Abstract

Currently, technology and mobile health applications are developing and being applied in different fields every day. Especially the use of mobile technology in many health fields offers various opportunities for the use of mobile applications in smoking, alcohol and substance use disorders, which is an important public mental health problem. The aim of this review study was to examine 16 mobile applications designed for the treatment and monitoring of smoking, alcohol and substance use. It was concluded that self-monitoring, notification and warning systems, location services, peer and expert support services were frequently used in the analyzed mobile applications. As a result of the studies, the use of mobile applications as a preventive intervention in the prevention of addiction and as an additional treatment option in addiction treatment is promising. However, this situation brings along various harms, risks and obstacles. This review of the relevant literature provides a critical update of mobile applications used in smoking, alcohol and substance use disorders. This review is expected to be an important guide for mental health professionals and mobile application designers working on addiction.

Keywords

Mobile application, digital health, addiction, community mental health

Supporting Institution

-

Project Number

-

Thanks

-

Mobil Uygulamaların Sigara, Alkol ve Madde Kullanım Bozukluklarında Kullanımı

Abstract

Günümüzde teknoloji ile mobil sağlık uygulamalarının geliştiği ve her geçen gün farklı alanlarda uygulandığı bilinmektedir. Özellikle mobil teknolojinin birçok sağlık alanında kullanılması önemli bir toplum ruh sağlığı sorunu olan sigara, alkol ve madde kullanım bozukluklarında mobil uygulamaların kullanımı için çeşitli fırsatlar sunmaktadır. Bu derleme çalışmasında sigara, alkol ve madde kullanımı tedavisi ve izlemi için tasarlanan 16 mobil uygulamanın incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. İncelenen mobil uygulamalarda çoğunlukla kendini takip, bildirim ve uyarı sistemlerinin, konum hizmetlerinin, akran ve uzman desteği hizmetlerinin sıklıkla kullanıldığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Yapılan çalışmalar sonucunda mobil uygulamaların bağımlılığın önlenmesinde koruyucu bir müdahale olarak ve bağımlılık tedavisinde ek bir tedavi seçeneği olarak kullanımı umut vaat etmektedir. Ancak bu durum çeşitli zararları, riskleri ve engelleri de beraberinde getirmektedir. İlgili literatür doğrultusunda yapılan incelemede sigara, alkol ve madde kullanım bozukluklarında kullanılan mobil uygulamalara eleştirel bir inceleme sağlanmıştır. Bu derlemenin, bağımlılık konusunda çalışan ruh sağlığı profesyonelleri ve mobil uygulama tasarımcıları için önemli bir rehber olabileceği düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

mobil uygulama, dijital sağlık, bağımlılık, toplum ruh sağlığı

Project Number

-

References

• Alqahtani F, Orji R (2019) Usability issues in mental health applications. In Adjunct Publication of the 27th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (pp. 343-348), 9-12 June 2019, Larnaca, Cyprus.
• Aharonovich E, Stohl M, Cannizzaro D, Hasin D (2017) HealthCall delivered via smartphone to reduce co-occurring drug and alcohol use in HIV-infected adults: a randomized pilot trial. J Subst Abuse Treat, 83:15-26.
• Attwood S, Parke H, Larsen J, Morton KL (2017) Using a mobile health application to reduce alcohol consumption: a mixed-methods evaluation of the drinkaware track & calculate units application. BMC Public Health, 17:394.
• Berman AH, Andersson C, Gajecki M, Rosendahl I, Sinadinovic K, Blankers M (2019) Smartphone apps targeting hazardous drinking patterns among university students show differential subgroup effects over 20 weeks: results from a randomized, controlled trial. J Clin Med, 8:1807.
• Bindoff I, De Salas K, Peterson G, Ling T, Lewis I, Wells L et al. (2016) Quittr: the design of a video game to support smoking cessation. JMIR Serious Games, 4:e6258.
• Bhavnani SP, Narula J, Sengupta PP (2016) Mobile technology and the digitization of healthcare. Eur Heart J, 37:1428-1438.
• Capon H, Hall W, Fry C, Carter A (2016) Realising the technological promise of smartphones in addiction research and treatment: an ethical review. Int J Drug Policy, 36:47-57.
• Crane D, Garnett C, Michie S, West R, Brown J (2018) A smartphone app to reduce excessive alcohol consumption: identifying the effectiveness of intervention components in a factorial randomised control trial. Sci Rep, 8:1-11.
• Colbert S, Thornton L, Richmond R (2020) Smartphone apps for managing alcohol consumption: a literature review. Addict Sci Clin Pract, 15:1-16.
• Dahne J, Lejuez CW (2015) Smartphone and mobile application utilization prior to and following treatment among individuals enrolled in residential substance use treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat, 58:95-99
• DiClemente CC (2016) Bağımlılık ve Değişim: Bağımlılık Nasıl Gelişir ve Bağımlı İnsan Nasıl İyileşir? (Çeviri Ed. M. Şahin) Ankara: Nobel Akademik.
• Gajecki M, Berman AH, Sinadinovic K, Rosendahl I, Andersson C (2014) Mobile phone brief intervention applications for risky alcohol use among university students: a randomized controlled study. Addict Sci Clin Pract, 9:11.
• Getty CA, Morande A, Lynskey M, Weaver T, Metrebian N (2019) Mobile telephone-delivered contingency management interventions promoting behaviour change in individuals with substance use disorders: a meta-analysis. Addiction, 114:1915–1925.
• Hodges J, Waselewski M, Harrington W, Franklin T, Schorling K, Huynh J et al. (2022) Six-month outcomes of the HOPE smartphone application designed to support treatment with medications for opioid use disorder and piloted during an early statewide COVID-19 lockdown. Addict Sci Clin Pract, 17:1-11.
• Hides L, Quinn C, Cockshaw W, Stoyanov S, Zelenko O, Johnson D et al. (2018) Efficacy and outcomes of a mobile app targeting alcohol use in young people. Addict Behav, 77:89-95.
• Hsu M, Martin B, Ahmed S, Torous J, Suzuki J (2022) Smartphone ownership, utilization, and interest in using mental health applications to address substance use disorders. JMIR Form Res, 6:e38684
• Iliescu R, Kumaravel A, Smurawska L, Torous J, Keshavan M (2021) Smartphone ownership and use of mental health applications by psychiatric inpatients. Psychiatry Res, 299:113806.
• Jayachandra V, Kesidi R, Yang Z, Zhang C, Pan Z, Sheng V et al. (2020) BeSober: Assisting relapse prevention in alcohol addiction using a novel mobile app-based intervention. In 2020 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) (pp. 944-947).
• Kesgin D, Yaman ÖM (2021) Evaluation of adaptation processes to social life after the participation in self-help groups of ındividuals who are substance abusers: example of narcotics anonymous groups. Turkish Studies - Economy, 16:873-892.
• Liang D, Han H, Du J, Zhao M, Hser YI (2018) A pilot study of a smartphone application supporting recovery from drug addiction. J Subst Abuse Treat, 88:51-58.
• McTavish FM, Chih MY, Shah D, Gustafson DH (2012) How patients recovering from alcoholism use a smartphone intervention. J Dual Diagn, 8:294-304.
• Milne-Ives M, Lam C, De Cock C, Van Velthoven MH, Meinert E (2020) Mobile apps for health behavior change in physical activity, diet, drug and alcohol use, and mental health: systematic review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 8:e17046.
• Pifarré M, Carrera A, Vilaplana J, Cuadrado J, Solsona S, Abella F et al. (2017) TControl: a mobile app to follow up tobacco-quitting patients. Comput Methods Programs Biomed, 142:81-89.
• Regmi K, Kassim N, Ahmad N, Tuah NA (2017) Effectiveness of mobile apps for smoking cessation: a review. Tob Prev Cessat, 3:12.
• Swendsen J (2016) Contributions of mobile technologies to addiction research. Dialogues Clin Neurosci, 18:213–221.
• Sunyaev A, Dehling T, Taylor PL, Mandl KD (2015) Availability and quality of mobile health app privacy policies. J Am Med Inform Assoc, 22:e28-e33.
• Mehrotra S, Tripathi R (2018) Recent developments in the use of smartphone interventions for mental health. Curr Opin Psychiatry, 31:379-388.
• Miralles I, Granell C, Díaz-Sanahuja L, Van Woensel W, Bretón-López J, Mira A et al. (2020) Smartphone apps for the treatment of mental disorders: systematic review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 8:e14897.
• Sharma A, Harrington RA, McClellan MB, Turakhia MP, Eapen ZJ, Steinhubl S, et al. (2018) Using digital health technology to better generate evidence and deliver evidence-based care. J Am Coll Cardiol, 71:2680-2690.
• Thompson ER (2007) Development and validation of an internationally reliable short-form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). J Cross Cult Psychol, 38:227-242.
• Torous J, Roberts LW (2017) Needed innovation in digital health and smartphone applications for mental health: transparency and trust. JAMA Psychiatry, 74:437-438.
• Waselewski ME, Flickinger TE, Canan C, Harrington W, Franklin T, Otero KN et al. (2021) A mobile health app to support patients receiving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder: development and feasibility study. JMIR Form Res, 5:e24561.
• Wang K, Varma DS, Prosperi M (2018a) A systematic review of the effectiveness of mobile apps for monitoring and management of mental health symptoms or disorders. J Psychiatr Res, 107:73-78.
• Wang Z, Zhang L, Ma L, Liu B (2018) Modeling medical services with mobile health applications. J Healthc Eng, 2018:1385034.
• Wray TB (2022) Exploring whether addictions counselors recommend that their patients use websites, smartphone apps, or other digital health tools to help them in their recovery: web-based survey. JMIR Form Res, 6:e37008.
• Williamson C, White K, Rona RJ, Simms A, Fear NT, Goodwin L et al. (2022) Smartphone-based alcohol interventions: a systematic review on the role of notifications in changing behaviors toward alcohol. Subst Abus, 43:1231-1244.
• Young AS, Cohen AN, Niv N, Nowlin-Finch N, Oberman RS, Olmos-Ochoa TT et al. (2020) Mobile phone and smartphone use by people with serious mental illness. Psychiatr Serv, 71:280-283.
• We Are Social Report (2022) Dıgıtal 2022: Another year of bumper growth. https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2022/01/digital-2022-another-year-of-bumper-growth-2/ Accessed 09.08.2022
• Bırakabilirsin (2022) Quitting Smoking is now easier with Yeşilay. http://birakabilirsin.org/sigarayi-birakmak-yesilay-ile-artik-daha-kolay/ Accessed date:17.08.2022
• Yeşil Dedektör (2022) Yeşil Dedektör. https://www.yesildedektor.org/ Accessed:17.08.2022
• UYUMA (2018) Project of Uyuma. https://www.icisleri.gov.tr/uyuma-projesi Accessed 30.08.2022.