Delivering Remote Measurement-Based Care in Community Addiction Treatment: Engagement and Usability Over a 6-Month...

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychology
• Public Health
• Digital Health

Background:

• Measurement-based care (MBC) is an evidence-based practice for monitoring patient progress and informing clinical decisions.
• MBC is underutilized in community-based substance use disorder (SUD) treatment settings.
• Digital and remote delivery of MBC may overcome implementation barriers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of integrating a digital, remotely delivered MBC system into community-based SUD treatment.
• To characterize patient and clinician engagement with the MBC system.
• To assess patient and clinician usability ratings of the MBC system.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 30 patients and 8 clinicians in a publicly funded addiction treatment clinic.
• Patients received standard SUD treatment and completed weekly digital questionnaires ('weekly check-in') for 24 weeks.
• Clinician engagement was measured by dashboard logins; usability and utility were assessed via patient and clinician ratings.

Main Results:

• Patients completed a mean of 85.8% of weekly check-ins; 99% of clinicians logged into the dashboard at least once.
• High usability and clinical utility ratings were reported by both patients and clinicians.
• Most patients found the system easy to navigate and helpful for self-reflection; clinicians found the dashboard provided meaningful information.

Conclusions:

• A digital, remotely delivered MBC system can achieve high patient and clinician engagement and favorable usability in SUD treatment.
• User-centered design likely contributed to the system's success.
• Future research should explore sustainable implementation and clinical benefits of MBC in community SUD settings.