Table A.1.
Brief descriptions of the Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS) components
| Component | Brief description |
|---|---|
| My Profile | A central location allowing the user to establish a recovery identity. Limited personal information can be displayed, a user can upload photos, and a sobriety counter (days of abstinence) is shown. |
| My Messages | A means to send private messages to other A-CHESS users. |
| Team Feed | A chronological list of what’s been going on with other members of the Support Team. Items in the list include new pictures that have been posted and new discussion group topics. |
| Support Team | Support Team allows users to look over the profiles of other A-CHESS users recruited from the same residential treatment organization. They can look at pictures, share information about interests, and links are provided to send private messages to each other. |
| Discussions | Users can exchange emotional support and information with other patients via online bulletin-board support groups. |
| Meetings | Provides time, place, date and directions to meetings (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous) in the area. |
| Panic Button | Provides in-the-moment support to help prevent a relapse. When pressed, alerts are issued to key self-identified people that help is needed, the user is presented with their own personal motivations for not drinking, and specific tools are presented to help the user deal with urges. |
| Ask An Expert | Users can pose questions and receive personal responses from experts in addiction. |
| Events | A source to learn about healthy substance-free events taking place nearby. |
| Recovery Info | Provides access to knowledge about addiction and recovery through resources such as recovery articles and links to external websites. |
| News | Provides brief summaries of recent news articles and research about addiction and provides a link to the actual article. |
| Our Stories | Audio, video or text accounts of individual and family members in recovery. |
| Recovery Podcasts | Provides access to podcasts including Alcoholics Anonymous speaker recordings and addiction talk shows. |
| Easing Distress | A program with a designed based on cognitive-behavioral therapy to help people cope with harmful thoughts that can lead to relapse. |
| Weekly Check-Ins | A brief survey to monitor negative affect, lifestyle balance, and substance use. Data is made available to counselors, who may be automatically notified if a score reaches a pre-set threshold. |
| My Settings | Allows for the customization of various A-CHESS components to facilitate autonomy in how users interact with the system. |
| Daily Check-Ins | A brief survey asking participants if they think they can make it through the day. |
| Tutorials | Tutorials provide online assistance on how to use A-CHESS. |