JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant public health concern. Interventions focused on increasing physical activity (PA) may improve AUD treatment outcomes. Given the ubiquity of smartphones and activity trackers, integrating this technology into a mobile app may be a feasible, acceptable, and scalable approach to increasing PA in individuals with AUD.

Objective:

We developed the Fit&Sober app targeted for patients with AUD to provide feedback on the relationship between affect/cravings and PA.

Methods:

To preliminarily test the Fit&Sober app, we conducted an open pilot trial of patients with AUD in early recovery (N=22; 59.1% female; mean age= 43.6 years). We report 12-week outcomes including feasibility and acceptability of the app, PA changes, and clinical outcomes.

Results:

Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the Fit&Sober app. App metadata suggested participants were still using the app approximately 2.5 days/week by the end of the intervention. Pre-post analyses revealed small-to-moderate effects on increases in PA, from 5,784 (SD=2511) steps/day at baseline to 7,236 (SD=3130) at 12 weeks (Cohen’s d=0.35). Moderate-to-large effects were observed for increases in percent days abstinent (Cohen’s d=2.17) and quality of life (Cohen’s d=0.58) as well as decreases in anxiety (Cohen’s d=-0.71) and depression symptoms (Cohen’s d=-0.58).

Conclusions:

The Fit&Sober app was an acceptable and feasible approach to increasing PA in patients with AUD in early recovery. A future randomized controlled trial is necessary to determine the efficacy of the Fit&Sober app on long-term maintenance of PA and ancillary mental health and alcohol outcomes. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02958280)