Machine Learning + Peer Support for Substance Use Disorder

Overseen By Jennifer L Marton, BS

Age: 18+

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: West Virginia University

Disqualifiers: Inability to give consent, others

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial examines the relationship between cravings, mental sharpness, and physical signs in individuals with substance use disorder. It also investigates how Peer Recovery Support (PRSS) can assist when wearable devices, like smartwatches, detect unusual patterns. The study includes two groups: one receives regular treatment without extra peer support, while the other receives additional help from trained supporters when their data indicates irregularities. Ideal candidates are those already receiving treatment for substance use disorder at a specific clinic or residing in a sober facility. Participants must be able to use a smartphone and download required apps. As an unphased trial, this study provides a unique opportunity to contribute to innovative research that could enhance recovery support systems.

Do I need to stop my current medications for the trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. It's best to discuss this with the trial coordinators or your doctor.

What prior data suggests that this peer recovery support intervention is safe?

Research shows that peer recovery support services (PRSS) are generally safe and well-received by individuals with substance use disorders. Studies have found that peer support can lead to better outcomes, such as fewer relapses and higher treatment completion rates. These studies have reported no major negative effects. PRSS involves trained individuals who have personally experienced recovery assisting others in similar situations. This personal connection often results in positive experiences for participants. Although PRSS is not a new treatment, ongoing research continues to confirm its safety and benefits in managing substance use disorders. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about the Machine Learning + Peer Support approach for Substance Use Disorder because it combines cutting-edge technology with personal human support. Unlike traditional treatments that primarily rely on medication or therapy sessions, this method uses machine learning to detect data anomalies that might indicate a participant's need for extra support. When an anomaly is detected, a Peer Recovery Support Specialist (PRSS) reaches out to provide personalized assistance. This innovative approach not only leverages technology to catch potential issues early but also ensures that individuals receive timely, tailored support, which could enhance recovery outcomes.

What evidence suggests that the PRSS intervention could be effective for substance use disorder?

Research has shown that Peer Recovery Support Services (PRSS), a treatment option in this trial, can benefit individuals dealing with substance use problems. Studies have found that PRSS improves recovery, particularly in hospitals or community settings. For example, one study discovered that a 12-week peer counseling program helped participants better understand their substance use issues. PRSS also assists at various stages of opioid use disorder treatment, potentially leading to better long-term recovery. This treatment involves trained peers with personal experience in addiction, providing guidance and support to others in recovery. ^{1 6 7 8 9}

Who Is on the Research Team?

James J Mahoney, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for adults over 18 with substance use disorders who are currently or were previously treated at a WVU Medicine Clinic, or residents of sober living facilities. Participants must be able to consent and download the required health app and wearable device apps on their smart devices.

Inclusion Criteria

Current or previous enrollment as a patient in a WVU Medicine Clinic for treatment of substance use disorder (e.g., residential, detoxification, inpatient, or outpatient), or a resident of a sober living facility.

Exclusion Criteria

Inability to download the RNI Health app and wearable device apps onto their smart device

I am unable to understand and give consent for treatment.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Initial Monitoring

Participants are monitored for 3 months to collect baseline data using wearable technology and the RNI Health app

12 weeks

Continuous monitoring

Randomization and Intervention

Participants are randomized to either standard-of-care treatment or PRSS intervention, with continuous monitoring and periodic assessments

Up to 5 years

Continuous monitoring, periodic assessments

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for safety and effectiveness after intervention

4 weeks

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• PRSS

Trial Overview The study aims to predict relapse in individuals with substance use disorder using machine learning technology that analyzes data from wearables like Oura rings, smartwatches, and responses on the RNI Health app. It also tests if peer recovery interventions can prevent relapse when prompted by abnormal biomarkers.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: PRSS intervention Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants receiving PRSS intervention will be contacted by the PRSS who will be blinded (not knowing whether an alert was caused by data anomaly or a random generation), and will contact the participant by phone and assess the need for assistance. PRSS will follow-up with the participant to assist participant if needed (once after the initial alert and then a second follow-up).

Group II: Treatment as usual Active Control 1 Intervention

Participants will receive standard of care treatment as usual and will receive no contact from a peer recover support specialist (PRSS intervention) when data anomalies are detected by machine learning algorithms.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

West Virginia University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

192

Recruited

64,700+

Published Research Related to This Trial

Mobile sensing technology has the potential to improve data collection and predictive capabilities regarding substance use and relapse, but current research is limited, with only six studies focusing on alcohol use identified in this review.

Most studies primarily focused on identifying ongoing substance use rather than predicting future use, highlighting a need for more research on diverse substances and clinical populations to enhance understanding and intervention strategies.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mobile Sensing in Substance Use Research: A Scoping Review. Lauvsnes, ADF., Langaas, M., Toussaint, P., et al.[2021]

Peer support groups have shown potential benefits in addiction treatment, including reductions in substance use, increased treatment engagement, and improved self-efficacy among participants, based on a review of ten studies conducted in the U.S. since 1999.

Despite these promising findings, the overall lack of rigorously tested empirical studies limits the ability to draw definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of peer support as a formal intervention in addiction treatment.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Benefits of peer support groups in the treatment of addiction. Tracy, K., Wallace, SP.[2020]

Peer recovery support services (PRSS) have been integrated into the recovery process for opioid use disorder (OUD), but their effectiveness on clinical outcomes remains unclear, as only 12 out of 123 studies met the inclusion criteria for review.

Most studies reported on PRSS engagement and medication for OUD (MOUD) initiation, but findings were inconsistent and varied due to the lack of standardized PRSS interventions and methodological limitations, indicating a need for further research before widespread implementation.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effectiveness of peer recovery support services on stages of the opioid use disorder treatment cascade: A systematic review. Gormley, MA., Pericot-Valverde, I., Diaz, L., et al.[2022]

In a pilot study involving 80 adults with recent non-fatal opioid overdoses, trained peer interventionists successfully delivered a Peer Recovery Support Services (PRSS) intervention, achieving a treatment enrollment success rate between 16% and 60%.

The interventionists reported no negative effects from their role, indicating that peer-led interventions can be implemented safely and effectively with limited training, although further research is needed to understand the factors influencing their varying success rates.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The feasibility and safety of training patients in opioid treatment to serve as peer recovery support service interventionists. Kropp, F., Wilder, C., Theobald, J., et al.[2022]

A new machine learning approach using a mixed effects model significantly improved the prediction of heavy drinking days among 190 heavy drinkers, achieving 84% accuracy compared to 73% with traditional methods.

Key factors influencing heavy drinking behavior included male gender, older age, and the use of nicotine, cannabis, and other drugs, highlighting the need for personalized interventions in substance use disorder treatment.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A Bayesian mixed effects support vector machine for learning and predicting daily substance use disorder patterns. Baurley, JW., Claus, ED., Witkiewitz, K., et al.[2022]

A new 13-item peer support scale was assessed using Rasch analysis in a study involving 408 adults who had completed inpatient treatment for substance-use disorder, confirming that most items measure the same underlying concept of peer support.

This standardized scale can be a valuable tool for both researchers and treatment providers to measure peer support, which is known to help prevent relapse in individuals recovering from substance abuse.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A Peer Support Scale for Adults Treated for Psychoactive Substance-Use Disorder: A Rasch Analysis. Mazurek, KD., Ciesla, JR.[2020]

A study involving 189 outpatients with opioid-use disorder used a randomForest algorithm to predict cravings for heroin and cocaine, achieving high overall accuracy (up to 0.93) in predicting when cravings would not occur, but lower accuracy in predicting actual cravings.

The findings suggest that while passive monitoring through GPS data can provide some predictive insights, accurately predicting subtle events like cravings or stress may require active user input, as high overall accuracy can sometimes hide the prevalence of false alarms.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Prediction of stress and drug craving ninety minutes in the future with passively collected GPS data. Epstein, DH., Tyburski, M., Kowalczyk, WJ., et al.[2023]

Peer recovery support services (PRSS) show promise in improving outcomes for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD), including reduced substance use, lower relapse rates, and increased treatment satisfaction, based on a systematic review of various studies.

However, the existing research has significant methodological limitations, such as inconsistent definitions of peer roles and a lack of appropriate comparison groups, highlighting the need for more rigorous studies to better understand the efficacy and implementation of PRSS.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Lived Experience in New Models of Care for Substance Use Disorder: A Systematic Review of Peer Recovery Support Services and Recovery Coaching. Eddie, D., Hoffman, L., Vilsaint, C., et al.[2023]

The Peer Recovery Program implemented in 20 hospitals provided 24/7 support for patients with substance use disorder, receiving referrals during over 30,000 patient visits from 2016 to 2019, with a high acceptance rate of continued support services between 74.8% and 83.0%.

The program demonstrated efficient response times, with Recovery Specialists arriving at the patient's bedside within an average of eight minutes, and facilitated numerous follow-up contacts, although further evidence of improved patient outcomes is necessary for broader implementation.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Implementing hospital-based peer recovery support services for substance use disorder. Liebling, EJ., Perez, JJS., Litterer, MM., et al.[2021]

Active users of the Sober Grid app, a digital recovery support service, showed an average sobriety length of 195.5 days, indicating that engagement with the platform may positively influence recovery outcomes.

Demographic factors like age and gender, along with user activity such as the number of check-ins, were found to be significant predictors of sobriety length and relapse, suggesting that tailored interventions could be developed based on these insights.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Digital recovery networks: Characterizing user participation, engagement, and outcomes of a novel recovery social network smartphone application. Ashford, RD., Giorgi, S., Mann, B., et al.[2021]

Clients in outpatient substance use disorder treatment who attended self-help groups and set treatment goals were more likely to remain in treatment for over 90 days and successfully complete it, based on a study using machine learning on data from 2018 to 2021.

Additional factors that contributed to successful treatment outcomes included being linked to a primary care provider and receiving supplemental nutrition assistance, highlighting the importance of social support in recovery.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Determinants of outpatient substance use disorder treatment length-of-stay and completion: the case of a treatment program in the southeast U.S. Baird, A., Cheng, Y., Xia, Y.[2023]

Citations

1. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12104978/

Systematizing peer recovery support services for substance ... Systematizing peer recovery support services for substance use disorder ... PRSS effectiveness, and advance recovery outcomes across diverse ...

2. link.springer.com link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40429-025-00645-8

Peer Recovery Support Services and Recovery Coaching ... Studies suggest PRSS may be most impactful on substance use outcomes when initiated in medical (5 studies) and community settings (4 studies), ...

3. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871621006189

Effectiveness of peer recovery support services on stages ... This study systematically synthesized existing literature reporting the effectiveness of PRSS interventions on stages of the OUD treatment cascade.

4. mass.gov mass.gov/doc/mgh-recovery-coach-report-submitted-to-recovery-coach-inbox/download

A Systematic Review of Peer Recovery Support Services ... Results however suggest a 12-week peer counseling intervention for substance use may increase participants' recognition that their alcohol and other drug use is ...

5. library.samhsa.gov library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/financing-peer-recovery-report-pep23-06-07-003.pdf

Financing Peer Recovery Support: Opportunities to ... Based on these findings and a panel discussion with subject matter experts, the report identifies opportunities to strengthen PRSS and improve financing for.

6. samhsa.gov samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/programs_campaigns/brss_tacs/peers-supporting-recovery-substance-use-disorders-2017.pdf

Peers Supporting Recovery from Substance Use Disorders Peer recovery coaches walk side by side with individuals seeking recovery from substance use disorders. They help people to create their own.

7. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12357432/

Peer support services for individuals with health-related needs ... An umbrella review of PSS for SUD found that peer support is associated with improved substance use outcomes, reductions in relapse and ...

8. hazeldenbettyford.org hazeldenbettyford.org/research-studies/addiction-research/peer-recovery-support

The Value of a Peer Recovery Specialist The reviewers concluded that in the majority of studies, participation of peers in recovery services had a positive effect on substance use outcomes (abstinence ...

9. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772724624000088

Evaluation of peer recovery services for substance use ... Peer recovery patients more likely to complete outpatient treatment in the follow-up year than comparison patients.