Spotlight on ... E-Health Interventions

2022·0.17 MB·English

Spotlight on… e-health interventions | www.emcdda.europa.eu 6/30/22, 12:29 PM
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Spotlight on… e-
health interventions
LAST UPDATED: 21 JUNE 2022
What is e-health and m-health?
e-Health involves the use of digital technologies to improve health in a variety
of ways including:
providing drug-related information with harm reduction advice (e.g. safer
use) with or without personalised feedback from professionals and linked
with specialised drug services if needed;
treating patients with substance use disorders, including comorbidity, via
e-health interventions; educating treatment professionals using e-
learning modules on therapeutic techniques; and
using digital diaries to monitor substance use in persons being treated
for substance use disorders.
Digital technologies have also been used, more so during the COVID-19
pandemic, to initiate and maintain contacts with clients, diagnose health
conditions and treatment needs, provide or renew prescriptions, and monitor
the provision of health interventions to specific clients. 
m-Health is a type of e-health involving the delivery of e-health interventions
using mobile phones and similar devices.
What is happening in Europe?
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Delivering screening and brief interventions via e-health and m-health
applications is a promising innovation for responding to a wide range of
substance use problems, in particular, interventions targeted at vulnerable
young people.
An EU-funded project established the Click for Support network, which has
developed guidelines for the development of e-health interventions. e-Health
applications available in Europe use a variety of technologies ranging from
simple text-based content display to more advanced interactive functions
such as video transmission, geo-tagging and automated personalised
feedback.
Three main groups of m-health apps based on primary objectives
Three main groups of m-health applications related to illicit substance use
have been identified:
apps disseminating drug-related information and advice;
apps providing interventions and support for people who use drugs
(including prevention of opioid overdose deaths); and
apps for capacity building among health professionals.
Most m-health apps address risk behaviour associated with drugs in general
or drug use in specific settings (e.g. nightlife settings). Some drug-specific
apps are available for more commonly used drugs such as cannabis.
Examples include:
Quit the Shit (QTS) is a German online cannabis withdrawal programme
developed for adolescents, aged 15–17 years, who want to reduce or quit
their cannabis use. An interactive diary helps them monitor their drug use
and a counselling team provides them with tips and personalised
feedback to support them in achieving their personal goals.
Mobile apps have been developed to provide information and harm
reduction advice to young people in nightlife settings. Examples are
Psychoactif and Techno+ apps available in French, and the RedAlert app
in Dutch.
The Dutch substance misuse treatment centre, Jellinek, has developed a
‘blended’ programme called MijnJellinek (MyJellinek) for people who
meet the criteria for a substance use disorder diagnosis, which combines
an e-health intervention with face-to-face contact with a therapist.
The EU-funded Overdose Risk Information Tool (ORION) is an e-health
decision support tool for individuals who are at high risk of experiencing
a drug overdose. Using a number of questions, the tool calculates an
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estimate of overdose risk from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest). The app
presents the risk estimate in a visually attractive way, with the aim of
facilitating discussion on overdose risk management between people
who use drugs and their doctors.
Implications for the future
This is a rapidly developing field, further expanded by the advancement of
many existing initiatives and the development of new ones during the COVID-
19 pandemic. While the use of digital and mobile platforms for the delivery of
appropriate and timely health interventions appears to have great potential, a
number of challenges for users, app developers and policymakers exist. The
lack of scientific evaluations of drug-related m-health interventions is
concerning considering the increasing interest in and availability of such
apps. Research into the effectiveness of these interventions is needed,
especially among hard-to-reach target populations, such as high-risk youth.
Consideration should also be given to how to deliver such interventions in a
safe and appropriate manner to those from marginalised communities, like
those experiencing homelessness, who may lack reliable access to internet or
a smart phone.
Quality management and data security are also important issues. The lack of
quality control of the content of these apps available to EU citizens, with no
age limits, remains to be addressed. Questions have also been raised about
the cross-cultural relevance of m-health applications, especially between the
United States and Europe. At the same time, the impact of the EU General
Data Protection Regulation, applicable since 2018, may be of particular
relevance in a context of fast global development of drug-related m-health
apps available to EU citizens.
Advances in technology have also opened up possibilities for continuous,
real-time data collection and feedback from smartphones, social media,
sensors and self-report. In this context data protection becomes increasingly
important, and European-level policy and good practice on data security
needs to be further developed and applied to all e-health interventions for
people who use drugs.
# Main subject
health and social responses (/search-tool_en?
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# Keywords
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#ResponsesGuide (/search-tool_en?
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e-health (/search-tool_en?
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harm reduction (/search-tool_en?
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health and social responses (/search-tool_en?
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m-health (/search-tool_en?
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treatment of drug use (/search-tool_en?
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$ Target audience
general public (/search-tool_en?
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practitioner (/search-tool_en?
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researcher (/search-tool_en?
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Related links: 
Cannabis: health and social responses (/publications/mini-guides/cannabis-
health-and-social-responses_en), Miniguide
Recreational settings and drugs: health and social responses
(/publications/mini-guides/recreational-settings-and-drugs-health-and-
social-responses_en), Miniguide
m-Health applications for responding to drug use and associated harms
(/publications/emcdda-papers/m-health-applications-for-responding-to-
drug-use_en), EMCDDA paper, 2018
Background paper, E-health and m-health: using new technologies to
respond to drug problems (/document-library/e-health-and-m-health-using-
new-technologies-respond-drug-problems_en), Background paper, 2017
% Spotlights (/search-tool_en?f[0]=type%3Aspotlight)
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