Using digital health technologies to help manage symptoms of opioid use disorder

Abstract

Objectives:
There has been an increased interest in the development and use of digital health technologies (DHTs) to help treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), but information on the needs and preferences of the patients seeking treatment for it is lacking. This study’s objective was to collect data on preferences for DHTs that are intended to support patients with OUD.

Methods:
A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 500 respondents who self-reported a diagnosis of OUD. The experiment included 6 attributes identified based on earlier phases of the study. These attributes included the benefit of the DHT, data sharing with one’s care team, data sharing with third parties, personalized goal tracking, community support, and health care support.

Results:
Tools that allow patients to connect with their care team, connect with peers, or set and track their own goals were highly valued by respondents. In general, respondents who participated in the study preferred DHTs that improve the chance of abstaining from nonprescribed opioid use over those that improve the chance of staying in treatment or reducing the chance of opioid overdose. However, we also observed heterogeneity in preferences for benefits and data-sharing features within OUD treatment, suggesting that different patients may exhibit different preferences for OUD treatment in clinical settings.

Conclusions:
DHTs can be designed to target different outcomes and can include various features that support patients being treated for OUD. Although some outcomes and features emerged as being preferred by respondents, there was significant heterogeneity in the results. It will be important for developers to think about the various needs and preferences of target users (eg, patients) for their specific DHT rather than viewing the patient population with OUD as homogenous.