Researchers to Deploy Smartphone App to Reduce Alcohol Use in Unhoused

NORMAN, OKLA. – In 2022, researchers from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences  and the University of North Texas Health Science Center published findings from a pilot trial of a mobile application to help reduce drinking among adults experiencing homelessness. Now, with funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the team will deploy a field test of the app’s efficacy with 600 participants in Oklahoma City and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

A 2022 report indicated that the United States has more than 580,000 people experiencing homelessness. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, up to 55% of unhoused people suffer from alcohol use disorder. Research also shows that up to 58% of people experiencing homelessness own a smartphone with access to the internet.

“While surprising to many, the majority of people experiencing homeless have smartphone access,” said Jason Oliver, co-principal investigator and an associate professor of family and preventive medicine at the OU College of Medicine. “For those who don’t own a smartphone, we will try to procure one for them through their shelter or the government’s Lifeline program.”

The Lifeline Program for Low-Income Consumers was established in 1985 to provide discounted phone service for low-income consumers. National Digital Connectivity and Lifeline Awareness Week is observed annually to ensure that eligible low-income families and individuals are aware of the federal program available to them.

The team, which is also led by Michael Businelle from the OU Health Sciences and Scott Walters from the UNTHSC, will use their smartphone app to send real-time intervention messages to participants, hoping to reduce their alcohol consumption.

“These people often lack the resources needed to make it to a medical appointment or regularly attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Combine that with the stigma surrounding alcohol use disorder and homelessness, and you get a lot of people who are reluctant to go to treatment sessions,” Oliver said. “Knowing this, we hope that a confidential and easily accessible intervention like our app will offer a new opportunity to help participants reduce alcohol consumption.”

The Smart-T app will work by prompting users throughout the day to gather insights into their current mood and motivation. Based on their inputs, the app can predict the likelihood of drinking with over 80% accuracy. Participants will then receive push notifications to prevent alcohol use.

“If someone says that they’re around others who are drinking or that they’re particularly stressed out, then they will receive personalized, in-the-moment prompts to help them avoid drinking,” Oliver said. “Since it’s coming directly to them and it’s tailored to their situation, we hope that it will be more effective than other treatments.”

Additional features include tips on the benefits of sobriety, coping mechanisms or improving sleep. The app can also be used to connect users back to their shelter or other local resources to improve their lives and keep them safe and sober.

“By the end of this project, I hope we have an app that can be easily disseminated and that helps make a difference in the lives of our users. If so, then we can determine what works and how it works to iterate an even better app for future wider-scale implementation,” Oliver said.

Participant recruitment in Oklahoma City, OK, and Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX, is expected to begin no later than Jan. 2025. Learn more about the Businelle Research Lab’s efforts in mobile health technologies.

About the project
This project is funded by a $3,264,979 grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, award no. R01AA030276. It began in Aug. 2024 and is expected to conclude in April 2029. This work builds on prior published research, DOI no. 10.1111/acer.14908. Businelle is a co-principal investigator and a professor of family and preventive medicine in the College of Medicine at OUHSC. Walters is a co-principal investigator and Regent’s professor in the Department of Population and Community Health at UNTHSC. Oliver and Businelle are also core faculty in the TSET Health Promotion Research Center at the OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center.