Digital Therapeutic Content for Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Development and Evaluation Study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Behavioral Science
• Public Health

Background:

• Substance use disorders (SUDs) present significant public health challenges, with limited uptake of evidence-based interventions.
• Digital therapeutics offer a scalable solution to increase access to SUD treatment.
• Current digital interventions often lack clinician involvement and rigorous development, necessitating validated patient-facing materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and evaluate an iterative, interdisciplinary process for adapting print-based SUD treatment materials into digital therapeutic modules.
• To assess if a human-centered development approach yields digital modules rated as understandable and actionable.

Main Methods:

• Fourteen existing print modules were adapted for smartphone delivery by a team including licensed counselors with lived experience and a therapeutic specialist.
• Content was restructured, language simplified, and actionability enhanced over a 6-month iterative process.
• Modules were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for printable materials (PEMAT-P).

Main Results:

• Digital modules achieved high understandability (mean 87.2%) and actionability (mean 75.1%), exceeding the 70% benchmark.
• While understandability was consistent, 35.7% of modules scored below the actionability threshold.
• Aggregate scores masked variability, indicating that not all content types consistently achieved actionability.

Conclusions:

• An iterative, human-centered process is valuable for developing digital SUD therapeutics.
• While generally effective, the process requires refinement to ensure consistent actionability across all digital modules.
• Incorporating patient feedback during development could further enhance the usability and effectiveness of digital interventions.