Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Feb 13, 2019
Date Accepted: May 19, 2019
End-User Informed mHealth Intervention Development for Adolescent Cannabis Use Disorder: A Qualitative Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Rates of cannabis use continue to increase among adolescents, however current interventions have modest effects and high rates of relapse following treatment. There is increasing evidence for the efficacy of mobile technology-based interventions for adults with substance use disorders, but limited study of this technology in adolescents who abuse substances.
Objective:
Our goal is to elucidate elements of an app-based adjunctive intervention for cannabis cessation that resonate with adolescents who use cannabis.
Methods:
Adolescents aged 14-17 years who used cannabis were recruited from San Diego County high schools. Semi-structured focus groups (6 total; n=37) were conducted to examine the ways in which participants used smartphones, including use of any health behavior change apps, as well as to elicit opinions about elements that would promote engagement with an app-based intervention for adolescent cannabis cessation. An iterative coding structure was used with first cycle structural coding followed by pattern coding.
Results:
Themes that emerged from the analysis included: (1) youth valued rewards to incentivize the progressive reduction of cannabis use which included both non-tangible rewards that mimic those obtained on social media platforms and pro-social activity-related rewards, (2) having the ability to self-monitor progression, (3) peer social support, (4) privacy and confidentiality discrete logo and name, and usernames within the app, and (5) individualizing frequency and content of notifications and reminders.
Conclusions:
Integrating content, language, interfaces, delivery systems and rewards with which adolescents who use cannabis are familiar, engage with on a day-to-day basis, and identify as relevant, may increase treatment engagement and retention. We may increase treatment effectiveness by adapting and individualizing current evidence-based interventions so that they target the needs of adolescents, and are more easily incorporated into their everyday routines.
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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.