Take part in an Alcohol Treatment study

What happens if you decide to participate?

• If you decide to participate, and you are eligible, you will be invited to sign an online consent form;
• You will complete questionnaires about your background, your personal history and alcohol use history and habits (30 minutes or less);
• The research staff will contact you months 1-6, week 32, and week 52 to complete a medication count of your medication; (10 minutes per call)
• If you decide to participate in the study, you will be randomly assigned (randomized) to either receive:
  • the newly developed digital program, which combines behavioral therapy with medication, or
  • medication with monthly medication management visits to monitor your experience and progress
• All treatment, regardless of what group you are assigned to, is available digitally. There will be no in-person requirements for either group.
• If you are assigned to receive the digital program, you will need to download and interact with the mobile application which will deliver daily messages, in-app CBT content, access to a licensed drug and alcohol counselor with whom you will meet with weekly for 45 minute sessions during the first three months, and at a mutually agreed upon frequency during months 4 through 6, ranging from weekly to biweekly or monthly, depending upon your needs and preferences;
• If you are assigned to receive medical management, there will be a 6-month course of treatment
• At 0, 4-, 8-, 12-, 24-, 36- and 52-weeks, you will be asked about your daily alcohol use patterns, and complete approximately 8 brief surveys measuring a variety of psychological and well-being measures. (15 to 30 minutes).
• All questionnaires and the one-on-one interview, (15 to 30 minutes), will be completed online; there is no in-person contact.
• The one-on-one interview will be conducted after you complete the 6-month treatment phase of the study. This interview will be video and/or audio recorded.

Participation will last 1 year and will include a baseline visit of 30-60 minutes; monthly collection of alcohol use data, as well as research surveys at 12-, 24-, 36- and 52-weeks.

By taking part in this research, you also agree to:

• provide a release of information to allow us to coordinate care with your medical care provider if you are currently in treatment for a medical or psychiatric condition; and
• you agree to allow video/audio recording of your counseling sessions for the purposes of monitoring fidelity of the intervention. Recordings will be viewed only by the study staff. If you do not want to be recorded, you cannot take part in this study. Recordings will be destroyed within 2 years after the study is complete. Your counseling and medical management visits will only be recorded if you are randomized into the digital program arm.

Quit Genius App (QG-A)

• QG-A is a smartphone application targeting alcohol use disorder, informed by the principles of CBT, Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), and community reinforcement (see figure 1 for screenshots).
• QG delivers personalized, behavioral support to individuals who are seeking to change their use of alcohol.
• QG-A includes standardized cognitive-behavioral therapy in the form of videos, in-app text, audio recordings, and quizzes, but Quit Genius can also personalize CBT exercises to particular patients based on their clinical need. The application provides users with information on how to reduce or abstain from alcohol use.