Feasibility and efficacy of the S-Check App to change help seeking behaviour of people who use methamphetamine

Interventions are required that address not only methamphetamine (MA) related harms, but also delays in treatment seeking and low treatment coverage. This study sought to determine whether a self-administered smartphone-based intervention, the S-Check Application ('App'), can motivate monitoring use and increase help seeking amongst people who use MA; and determine factors associated with app engagement.

Randomised, 28-day wait-list controlled trial, with follow-up to Day 56. Consenting adults residing in Australia who reported using MA at least once in the last month were eligible to download the App free-of-charge from Android/iOS App stores. Those randomised to the intervention arm were able to use the S-Check App immediately whilst those in the control arm were wait-listed for 28 days before gaining access to the App. Actual and anticipated help-seeking were measured by the Actual and General Help Seeking Questionnaires (AHSQ, GHSQ). A logistic regression model was used to compare the odds of actual help seeking at Day 28 between the intervention and control arms and linear regression to examine association between app use and use of MA.

We recruited 259 participants, 84 were retained to Day 28 (33 intervention, 51 control). Compared to waitlist controls, almost twice the proportion of participants in the intervention group sought professional help by Day 28 (46% vs 24%, p=0.04). For those not seeking help at Baseline each minute using the App increased the likelihood of seeking professional help by Day 28 by 8% (OR=1.08, p=0.04). There was an association between increased app use and decreased MA use over the 28 days (β= -0.04, p=0.02 [intervention group]). The S-Check App is a feasible, low resource, self-administered intervention for adults in Australia who use MA. Using supportive self-monitoring, the App assists people who use MA to identify problem use and promotes treatment seeking.