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Exploring Factors Associated With Mobile Phone Behaviors and Attitudes Toward Technology Among Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder and Implications for mHealth Interventions: Exploratory Study

Sillice, Marie Aline
Stein, Michael
Battle, Cynthia L
Meshesha, Lidia Z
Lindsay, Clifford
Agu, Emmanuel
Abrantes, Ana M
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Abstract

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with severe chronic medical conditions and premature mortality. Expanding the reach or access to effective evidence-based treatments to help persons with AUD is a public health objective. Mobile phone or smartphone technology has the potential to increase the dissemination of clinical and behavioral interventions (mobile health interventions) that increase the initiation and maintenance of sobriety among individuals with AUD. Studies about how this group uses their mobile phone and their attitudes toward technology may have meaningful implications for participant engagement with these interventions.

Objective: This exploratory study examined the potential relationships among demographic characteristics (race, gender, age, marital status, and income), substance use characteristics (frequency of alcohol and cannabis use), and clinical variables (anxiety and depression symptoms) with indicators of mobile phone use behaviors and attitudes toward technology.

Methods: A sample of 71 adults with AUD (mean age 42.9, SD 10.9 years) engaged in an alcohol partial hospitalization program completed 4 subscales from the Media Technology Usage and Attitudes assessment: Smartphone Usage measures various mobile phone behaviors and activities, Positive Attitudes and Negative Attitudes measure attitudes toward technology, and the Technological Anxiety/Dependence measure assesses level of anxiety when individuals are separated from their phone and dependence on this device. Participants also provided demographic information and completed the Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. Lastly, participants reported their frequency of alcohol use over the past 3 months using the Drug Use Frequency Scale.

Results: Results for the demographic factors showed a significant main effect for age, Smartphone Usage (P=.003; ηp2=0.14), and Positive Attitudes (P=.01; ηp2=0.07). Marital status (P=.03; ηp2=0.13) and income (P=.03; ηp2=0.14) were associated only with the Technological Anxiety and Dependence subscale. Moreover, a significant trend was found for alcohol use and the Technological Anxiety/Dependence subscale (P=.06; R2=0.02). Lastly, CES-D scores (P=.03; R2=0.08) and GAD symptoms (P=.004; R2=0.13) were significant predictors only of the Technological Anxiety/Dependence subscale.

Conclusions: Findings indicate differences in mobile phone use patterns and attitudes toward technology across demographic, substance use, and clinical measures among patients with AUD. These results may help inform the development of future mHealth interventions among this population.

Source

Sillice MA, Stein M, Battle CL, Meshesha LZ, Lindsay C, Agu E, Abrantes AM. Exploring Factors Associated With Mobile Phone Behaviors and Attitudes Toward Technology Among Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder and Implications for mHealth Interventions: Exploratory Study. JMIR Form Res. 2022 Aug 15;6(8):e32768. doi: 10.2196/32768. PMID: 35969449; PMCID: PMC9425165.

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10.2196/32768
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35969449
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©Marie Aline Sillice, Michael Stein, Cynthia L Battle, Lidia Z Meshesha, Clifford Lindsay, Emmanuel Agu, Ana M Abrantes. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 15.08.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Attribution 4.0 International