Researchers have created a smartphone app for recovering alcoholics that may help them quit drinking for good by sending an alert to keep them out of trouble.
According to LiveScience.com, the app, called the Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS), is set up to help patients with alcohol abuse disorder cut down on drinking. In the study, participants found that the application reduced a patron's drinking days.
Researchers provided 170 recovering alcoholics with a smartphone that included the app. Individuals were questioned about their drinking habits every four months. A second group of recovering alcoholics were not given the application, but were provided with traditional treatments, such as a rehabilitation program.
Those that received the smartphones reported fewer drinking days, which was defined as drinking more than four drinks for men and three for women in a two-hour period. Researchers said that patients who used the smartphone practiced more abstinence compared to those received support from therapy sessions.
According to LiveScience.com, at eight months, about 78 percent of the smartphone users reported not drinking within the previous 30 days, compared to the 67 percent of the second group. At 12 months, the number of smartphone users not drinking within the previous 30 days slightly increased as the second group decreased.
The application includes a panic button, which is programmed to notify peers who are nearest to the patient when the button is pushed. It also provides access to distractions, reminders, and relaxation techniques to calm the patient while waiting for help.
"The ability to talk about their problems with others going through the same things they're going through made a big difference," David H. Gustafson, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Engineering, said. "The panic button was used a lot more than I ever anticipated."
The smartphone also used the GPS and issues daily messages of support, along with weekly questions designed to help counselors understand a person's struggle with trying to keep sober.
"The promising results of this trial in continuing care for AUDs point to the possible value of a smartphone intervention for treating AUDs and perhaps other chronic illnesses," researchers concluded.
The study was published online Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.
