Alcoholism is a costly and difficult societal problem and treatment programs are often unsuccessful. One consistent finding in the literature is that better outcomes occur with improved treatment retention. ASEAD (Adaptive Support Environment for Alcohol Dependence) is a tool designed to improve treatment retention. It uses pagers to send patients messages that remind them to go to treatment appointments, to apply what they are learning in treatment to their daily life, and to engage in behaviors consistent with a clean and sober lifestyle. Our Phase I study demonstrated that our intervention was both technically feasible and positively received by patients, who found the pager both easy to use and helpful in their treatment. The goal of the Phase II project will be to make ASEAD a product that will be used. Therefore, we will (1) involve drug and alcohol treatment agencies (administrators and providers) in the design of the pager system, (2) design and implement software flexible and robust enough to accommodate their needs, and (3) test this intervention with a randomized trial designed to measure (a) usability and utility from the perspective of treatment providers and agencies (our ultimate customers) and (b) patient outcome variables related to treatment.
