MomentStrong is conducting a similar study

A smartphone application that helps support alcohol-dependent people after they leave a treatment program may have a significant impact on patients, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study involved 349 patients who were part of five different treatment programs, two in the Northeast and three in the Midwest. Within that group, 179 patients were given the normal treatment and 170 were given the treatment as well as an app, which the study called Addiction–Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS). For all participants, the intervention lasted 8 months and the first follow-up was 4 months after the program ended.

The app helped to monitor the patients, provide them with information, and offer support services to patients, such as contact with the patient's counselor.

To determine how well the patients did, they were asked to report their "risky drinking days" for the past month at the 4-month, 8-month and one year marks. The study defined "risky drinking days" as a day in which a male patient drank more than four drinks in a 2-hour period or a female patient drank more than three drinks in the same period.

Patients in the control group reported an average of 2.75 risky drinking days while those in the A-CHESS group reported an average of 1.39 risky drinking days.

Another app, MomentStrong, is also working on completing a study with the University of North Florida, which tackles alcohol dependence as well as helping people lose weight and quit smoking. The app, which is only available through employee wellness programs, uses geofencing to send helpful messages to the user when they are in a specific place that the user has previously designated as one where they are likely to make a bad health decision.