Optimizing Digital Tools for the Field of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders: Backcasting Exercise

Florian Scheibein¹, Elsa Caballeria², Md Abu Taher³, Sidharth Arya⁴, Angus Bancroft⁵, Lisa Dannatt⁶, Charlotte De Kock⁷, Nazish Idrees Chaudhary⁸, Roberto Perez Gayo⁹, Abhishek Ghosh¹⁰, Lillian Gelberg¹¹, Cees Goos¹², Rebecca Gordon², Antoni Gual², Penelope Hill^{13

14

15}, Iga Jeziorska^{9

16}, Eliza Kurcevič¹⁷, Aleksey Lakhov¹⁸, Ishwor Maharjan¹⁹, Silvia Matrai², Nirvana Morgan²⁰, Ilias Paraskevopoulos²¹, Zrinka Puharić²², Goodman Sibeko⁶, Jan Stola²³, Marcela Tiburcio²⁴, Joseph Tay Wee Teck²⁵, Zaza Tsereteli²⁶, Hugo López-Pelayo²

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, South East Technological University, Waterford, Ireland.
² Health and Addictions Research Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
³ United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Institute of Mental Health, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, India.
⁵ School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ Institute for Social Drug Research, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁸ International Grace Rehab, Lahore School of Behavioral Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁹ Correlation European Harm Reduction Network, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
¹¹ Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
¹² European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria.
¹³ The National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, Randwick, Australia.
¹⁴ The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Australia.
¹⁵ National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁶ Department of Public Policy, Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁷ Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Vilnius, Lithuania.
¹⁸ Humanitarian Action Charitable Fund, St Petersburg, Russian Federation.
¹⁹ Management Center Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
²⁰ Network of Early Career Professionals in Addiction Medicine, Seligenstadt, Germany.
²¹ Kethea Ithaki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
²² Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Bjelovar University of Applied Sciences, Bjelovar, Croatia.
²³ Youth Organisations for Drug Action, Warsaw, Poland.
²⁴ Head of the Department of Social Sciences in Health, Directorate of Epidemiological and Psychosocial Research, Mexico City, Mexico.
²⁵ DigitAS Project, Population and Behavioural Science, School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom.
²⁶ Alcohol and Substance Use Expert Group, Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-Being, Tallinn, Estonia.

PMID: 38085569
PMCID: PMC10751634
DOI: 10.2196/46678

Optimizing Digital Tools for the Field of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders: Backcasting Exercise

Florian Scheibein et al. JMIR Hum Factors. 2023.

. 2023 Dec 12:10:e46678.

doi: 10.2196/46678.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, South East Technological University, Waterford, Ireland.
² Health and Addictions Research Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
³ United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Institute of Mental Health, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, India.
⁵ School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ Institute for Social Drug Research, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁸ International Grace Rehab, Lahore School of Behavioral Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁹ Correlation European Harm Reduction Network, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
¹¹ Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
¹² European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria.
¹³ The National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, Randwick, Australia.
¹⁴ The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Australia.
¹⁵ National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁶ Department of Public Policy, Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁷ Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Vilnius, Lithuania.
¹⁸ Humanitarian Action Charitable Fund, St Petersburg, Russian Federation.
¹⁹ Management Center Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
²⁰ Network of Early Career Professionals in Addiction Medicine, Seligenstadt, Germany.
²¹ Kethea Ithaki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
²² Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Bjelovar University of Applied Sciences, Bjelovar, Croatia.
²³ Youth Organisations for Drug Action, Warsaw, Poland.
²⁴ Head of the Department of Social Sciences in Health, Directorate of Epidemiological and Psychosocial Research, Mexico City, Mexico.
²⁵ DigitAS Project, Population and Behavioural Science, School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom.
²⁶ Alcohol and Substance Use Expert Group, Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-Being, Tallinn, Estonia.

PMID: 38085569
PMCID: PMC10751634
DOI: 10.2196/46678

Abstract

Background: Substance use trends are complex; they often rapidly evolve and necessitate an intersectional approach in research, service, and policy making. Current and emerging digital tools related to substance use are promising but also create a range of challenges and opportunities.

Objective: This paper reports on a backcasting exercise aimed at the development of a roadmap that identifies values, challenges, facilitators, and milestones to achieve optimal use of digital tools in the substance use field by 2030.

Methods: A backcasting exercise method was adopted, wherein the core elements are identifying key values, challenges, facilitators, milestones, cornerstones and a current, desired, and future scenario. A structured approach was used by means of (1) an Open Science Framework page as a web-based collaborative working space and (2) key stakeholders' collaborative engagement during the 2022 Lisbon Addiction Conference.

Results: The identified key values were digital rights, evidence-based tools, user-friendliness, accessibility and availability, and person-centeredness. The key challenges identified were ethical funding, regulations, commercialization, best practice models, digital literacy, and access or reach. The key facilitators identified were scientific research, interoperable infrastructure and a culture of innovation, expertise, ethical funding, user-friendly designs, and digital rights and regulations. A range of milestones were identified. The overarching identified cornerstones consisted of creating ethical frameworks, increasing access to digital tools, and continuous trend analysis.

Conclusions: The use of digital tools in the field of substance use is linked to a range of risks and opportunities that need to be managed. The current trajectories of the use of such tools are heavily influenced by large multinational for-profit companies with relatively little involvement of key stakeholders such as people who use drugs, service providers, and researchers. The current funding models are problematic and lack the necessary flexibility associated with best practice business approaches such as lean and agile principles to design and execute customer discovery methods. Accessibility and availability, digital rights, user-friendly design, and person-focused approaches should be at the forefront in the further development of digital tools. Global legislative and technical infrastructures by means of a global action plan and strategy are necessary and should include ethical frameworks, accessibility of digital tools for substance use, and continuous trend analysis as cornerstones.

Keywords: addictions; backcasting exercise; digital health; digital tools; drug addiction; eHealth; ethical frameworks; substance use; substance use disorders; telemedicine.

©Florian Scheibein, Elsa Caballeria, Md Abu Taher, Sidharth Arya, Angus Bancroft, Lisa Dannatt, Charlotte De Kock, Nazish Idrees Chaudhary, Roberto Perez Gayo, Abhishek Ghosh, Lillian Gelberg, Cees Goos, Rebecca Gordon, Antoni Gual, Penelope Hill, Iga Jeziorska, Eliza Kurcevič, Aleksey Lakhov, Ishwor Maharjan, Silvia Matrai, Nirvana Morgan, Ilias Paraskevopoulos, Zrinka Puharić, Goodman Sibeko, Jan Stola, Marcela Tiburcio, Joseph Tay Wee Teck, Zaza Tsereteli, Hugo López-Pelayo. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (https://humanfactors.jmir.org), 12.12.2023.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Milestones and cornerstones.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Optimizing Digital Tools for the Field of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders: Backcasting Exercise

Affiliations

Optimizing Digital Tools for the Field of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders: Backcasting Exercise

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Medical