Step Away: Comparing a Chatbot-delivered Alcohol Intervention With a Smartphone App

"The Step Away chatbot utilizes AI technology to provide mobile, web-based, person-centered, behavioral-based interventions and timely support for individuals seeking to reduce their alcohol use. Participants interact with the chatbot through interactive text.~The Step Away chatbot is informed by the following theoretical constructs: (1) motivational enhancement; (2) relapse prevention; and (3) community reinforcement. It uses the Relapse Prevention (RP) model, which is informed by cognitive behavioral theory and has evolved to reflect the dynamic, non-linear relationships between contextual triggers and coping, as mediated by motivation, mood, and self-efficacy. It proactively encourages the user to identify and include supportive others in treatment; to identify and plan non-drinking, recreational activities; and to develop other non-drinking lifestyle skills and strategies."

"The Step Away app is a smartphone-based mobile intervention system.~It is informed by three theoretical constructs that are considered the most important active ingredients for person-centered, behavioral-based intervention and treatment in addictions: (1) motivational enhancement; (2) relapse prevention; and (3) community reinforcement. Step Away uses the Relapse Prevention (RP) model, which is informed by cognitive behavioral theory and has evolved to reflect the dynamic, non-linear relationships between contextual triggers and coping, as mediated by motivation, mood, and self-efficacy. Step Away proactively encourages the user to identify and include supportive others in treatment; to identify and plan non-drinking, recreational activities; and to develop other non-drinking lifestyle skills and strategies."