Clinicians Interact With Prescription Digital Therapeutic for Opioid Use Disorder

Clinician use and interaction with a prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) dashboard was found to have a positive association with patient engagement, treatment retention, and abstinence in the last month of treatment among those with opioid use disorder (OUD), according to research findings presented at Psych Congress 2022, held from September 17 to 20, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Researchers sought to examine clinician interactions with the PDT dashboard and evaluate a possible association with patient engagement, treatment retention, and abstinence. They used descriptive statistics to assess clinician interactions and patient outcomes. Dashboard interaction was defined by opening the dashboard.

Deidentified data were assessed that included 10,066 patients who filled a reSET-O 12-week prescription (for cognitive behavior therapy), of which 63.0% were managed through the dashboard

Researchers noted that clinicians used the dashboard at a median of 3 times per prescription (mean, 5 interactions/prescription [1.67/month]; median time per session, 1.4 minutes). They found that increasing frequency of dashboard management by clinicians was positively associated with patient engagement. Patient engagement was numerically greater among managed vs nonmanaged patients (median days active in the PDT [23 vs 19; Cohen’s d=0.28] and median unique lessons completed [27 vs 22; Cohen’s d=0.21]).

Researchers also observed increased odds of retention in treatment weeks 9 to 12 relative to nonmanagement by 1.1-, 1.2-, 2.0-, and 2.8-fold for minimal (once), monthly (2-4 times), intensive (5-11 times), and weekly (>11 times) management, respectively. They noted that the percentage of abstinent patients (missing weeks excluded) were 66.7% (h=0.04), 69.4% (h=0.10), 73.0% (h=0.18) and 73.8% (h=0.20) for minimal, monthly, intensive, and weekly management, respectively.

Researchers concluded that “Use and frequency of interaction with a clinician-facing dashboard are positively associated with higher levels of patient engagement, treatment retention, and abstinence in the last month of treatment.” They added that outcomes and efficiency of care in patients with OUD may be improved by clinician interaction with the dashboard.

Disclosure: This research was supported by Pear Therapeutics (US), Inc. Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.

Reference

Gerwien R, Shafai G, Shapiro H, Sullivan M. Clinician interaction with a prescription digital therapeutic for OUD: engagement and outcomes. Presented at: Psych Congress 2022; September 17-20, 2022; New Orleans, LA. Poster 12.

This article originally appeared on Psychiatry Advisor