Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 2, 2020
Date Accepted: Sep 24, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Protocol for Implementation and Evaluation of a Text Message Addiction Counselling (Text4Hope-Addiction Support) Program
ABSTRACT
Background:
With the emergence of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, providing addiction counselling to people with drug or alcohol problems in the context of a need to maintain physical distancing has been challenging. This protocol describes the use of text messaging (Text4Hope-Addiction Support) as a convenient, evidence-based, cost-effective, and accessible population-level mental health intervention with high user satisfaction in prior research.
Objective:
The project goal is to implement a program of daily supportive text messaging (Text4Hope-Addiction Support) to reduce drug or alcohol cravings as well as anxiety and depression, typically associated with alcohol and substance use disorders. Prevalence of cravings, anxiety and depressive symptoms, demographic correlates of the same, and the outcomes of the Text4Hope-Addiction Support intervention in mitigating cravings, anxiety and depressive symptoms will be evaluated.
Methods:
Self-administered, anonymous, online questionnaires will be used to assess cravings for the primary substance of addiction (Brief Substance Craving Scale), anxiety (GAD-7), and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). Data will be collected at baseline (onset of text messaging), at program midpoint (6-weeks), and end (12-weeks).
Results:
Data analysis will include parametric and non-parametric techniques, focussing on primary outcomes (i.e., cravings, anxiety, depressive symptoms) and metrics of use, including the number of subscribers and user satisfaction.
Conclusions:
This Text4Hope-Addiction Support project will provide key information regarding prevalence rates of cravings, anxiety, and depressive symptoms individuals with alcohol and drug problems, demographic correlates of cravings, anxiety and depression, and outcome data related to this scalable population-level intervention. Information from this study will be valuable for addiction care practitioners and inform policy and decision-making regarding population-level addiction treatment and supports during emergencies. Clinical Trial: Ethics approval has been granted by the University of Alberta Health Research Ethics Board (Pro00086163).
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