# Smartphone Addiction Recovery Coach for Young Adults (SARC-YA) Experiment

> **NIH NIH R01** · CHESTNUT HEALTH SYSTEMS, INC. · 2021 · $578,564

## Abstract

Abstract
 Adolescents who receive treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) have high rates of resuming
substance use after they leave treatment. Although relapse prevention is widely incorporated within SUD
treatment for adolescents, tools for sustaining recovery are frequently lacking or inadequate. Smartphones
have the potential to address this need by delivering Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA); EMA is a
self-monitoring intervention that can be used to help people identify and better understand the antecedents,
patterns, and consequences of substance use. In addition, smartphones can provide immediate access to a
range of recovery supports delivered via Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMI).
 As part of the P.I.’s MERIT award (R37 DA011323-14), the research team developed the Smartphone
Addiction Recovery Coach for Adolescents (SARC-A) mobile application, which is based on a dynamic model
of relapse prevention and utilizes smartphones to deliver recovery-oriented interventions. The applicant team
completed two pilot studies in which EMAs and EMIs were delivered to adolescents via smartphones, both
separately and combined. Results indicated that EMAs were reliably completed (5 to 6 per day) and accurately
predicted the risk of use in the next 7 days. In addition, participants completed an average of 20 or more EMIs
per day and EMI utilization was associated with reduced substance use in the next 7 days.
 Building on these findings, the applicants propose the following experimental study. Adolescents
(N=400) will be recruited upon their discharge from 1 of 4 outpatient treatment programs and randomly
assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (1) recovery support as usual control, (2) EMA-only, (3) EMI-only, or (4)
EMA+EMI experimental conditions. Interventions will be delivered for 6 months post-discharge with quarterly
assessments through 9 months. Data include standardized assessments, urine tests, mobile phone meta data,
EMA responses, and EMI utilization. Study hypotheses will be tested using survival analysis, multi-level
modeling and structural equation modeling of longitudinal data. The study has the following aims:
Aim 1: Test the effects of EMA, EMI, and EMA+EMI (v control) on the frequency of substance use; Aim 2:
Evaluate the extent to which the above effects are moderated by baseline substance use frequency; Aim 3:
Test the extent to which the frequency of substance use mediates the effects of EMA, EMI, and EMA+EMI on
other aspects of recovery including SUD symptoms, HIV risk behavior, quality of life, mental wellness, days of
school; and Aim 4: Determine the degree to which EMA responses and EMI utilization predict the duration of
abstinence.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9931183
- **Project number:** 5R01DA011323-18
- **Recipient organization:** CHESTNUT HEALTH SYSTEMS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL L. DENNIS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $578,564
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1999-08-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9931183

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9931183, Smartphone Addiction Recovery Coach for Young Adults (SARC-YA) Experiment (5R01DA011323-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9931183. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*