A-CHESS app for chronic alcoholics

New York: Just out from an alcohol treatment programme but still cannot avoid thinking about the bar evenings? This smart phone App will help you say good bye to those risky drinking days.

The App contains the locations of your favourite bars.

If you are found lingering outside one, the App would play a video recounting your misery as an alcoholic or audio of your daughter begging you not to drink!

Researchers have found that participants using the Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS) App were 65 percent more likely to abstain from drinking in the year following their release from a treatment centre.

“The promising results in providing care for patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) point to the possible use of a smart phone intervention for treating AUDs and perhaps other chronic illnesses,” suggested lead author David Gustafson, a professor of industrial engineering and preventive medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

The researchers randomised 349 patients who completed treatment for alcoholism in five residential programmes. Half the patients were given a smart phone with the A-CHESS app.

Patients who used the smart phone application reported fewer risky drinking days compared with the control group.

Patients using the smart phone application also had a higher likelihood of consistent abstinence from alcohol.

The App also issues daily support messages and asks weekly questions designed to help counsellors assess the person's struggle with sobriety.

A-CHESS also features a 'panic button' that gives a struggling person instant access to distractions, reminders or even a nearby friend who can come give them support.