Supporting desistance from crime and recovery from drug use with a patient-facing bidirectional eHealth tool: a case report.

BACKGROUND

Simultaneous exit from both drug use and a criminal organization is a difficult and potentially dangerous process for the individual.

CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes the use of the eHealth tool Previct Drugs to support a 27-year-old Caucasian male with substance use disorder in exiting an organized crime gang and achieving both sobriety and a law-abiding lifestyle. The eHealth tool is a smartphone application that provides eye-scanning-based drug screening to promote sobriety, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing. A strong therapeutic alliance was rapidly established, supported by continuous insight into the individual's sobriety and mood through the eHealth tool. The individual used the system for 7 months.

CONCLUSION

Care could be delivered with precise timing when the individual signaled a need for support, preventing at least one relapse. According to caregiver estimates, use of the eHealth tool accelerated the process of achieving sobriety and exiting the criminal lifestyle by several months.