Understanding Relapse and the Impact of Social Networks and Geographic Settings During Treatment for Alcohol-Related Problems

项目摘要 接受酒精治疗的人的社会、地理和环境背景可能会影响他们的 使用酒精和经历复发的风险。这项研究探索了新的方法来评估个人如何 进入门诊治疗酒精相关的问题相互作用的社交网络和环境 背景以及这些背景对复发和治疗参与的影响。尽管增长， 公共卫生研究中的技术使用，公共卫生仍然远远落后于其他领域（例如，销售） in using运用social社会technologies技术.智能手机技术可以让我们开发出符合 精确的健康，可以评估实时的社会和地理因素对酒精使用和复发的影响。这 该项目将使用两种主要方法来审查与复发有关的地理和社会风险：活动 空间评估和了解情况的经验取样。通过使用活动空间评估（a 评估人们去哪里，他们和谁一起去，以及他们在地点做什么的方法），我们将学习 人们在哪里度过时间，与谁一起从事危险行为。具有上下文感知经验 抽样，一种基于上下文因素每天多次评估参与者的技术（例如，GPS 位置），我们可以捕捉到真实世界和上下文对行为的影响， 尽可能的行为。换句话说，我们可以捕捉行为，社会互动和地理环境， 真实的时间和真实的世界设置，并评估这些相互作用如何影响或加速复发。我们将 从格鲁吉亚东北部和康涅狄格州纽黑文的物质使用治疗机构招募400名成年人， 接受酒精相关问题的正式治疗。在基线，所有参与者将完成一个社交网络 评估和活动空间评估。这些评估将用于指导实时环境- 社会和位置环境的人际机制的意识经验取样。此外，本发明还 参与者将在12个月内完成关于他们饮酒和其他相关行为的采访， 将通过酒精测试进一步确认。我们期望利用这项研究的结果来告知 开发一种基于手机的复发预防干预措施，包括社交网络和地理位置， 为完成酒精相关问题治疗的成年人提供触发恢复支持工具。

Project Summary The social, geographic, and environmental context of a person in treatment for alcohol use can impact their risk of using alcohol and experiencing relapse. This study explores novel methods to assess how individuals entering outpatient treatment for alcohol-related problems interact within social networks and environmental contexts and the impact these contexts have on relapse and treatment engagement. Despite increases in the use of technology in public health research, public health remains woefully behind other fields (e.g., marketing) in using social technologies. Smartphone technologies can allow us to develop methods consistent with precision health that can assess real-time social and geographic contributors to alcohol use and relapse. This project will use two primary methods for examining geographic and social risks related to relapse: activity space assessments and context-aware experience sampling. With the use of activity space assessments (a method that assesses where people go, who they go with, and what they do at the locations) we will learn where individuals spend time and with whom they engage in risky behaviors. With context aware experience sampling, a technique that assesses participants multiple times a day based on contextual factors (e.g., GPS location), we can capture real-world and contextual influences on behavior as close to the occurrence of the behavior as possible. In other words, we can capture behavior, social interactions, and geographic context in real time and real world settings and assess how these interactions influence or accelerate relapse. We will recruit 400 adults from substance use treatment facilities in Northeast Georgia and New Haven, CT as they enter formal treatment for alcohol-related problems. At baseline, all participants will complete a social network assessment and an activity space assessment. These assessments will be used to guide the real-time context- aware experience sampling of interpersonal mechanisms of social and location environment. Further, participants will complete interviews about their alcohol use and other related behaviors for 12 months, which will further be confirmed through alcohol testing. We anticipate using findings from this research to inform the development of a cell-phone-based relapse prevention intervention with social network and geographic- triggered recovery support tools for adults completing treatment for alcohol-related problems.