Trial reportJMIR mHealth and uHealth2021
A Personalized Approach Bias Modification Smartphone App ("SWiPE") to Reduce Alcohol Use: Open-Label Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness Study.
Trial report in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating the User Experience and Usability of Game-Based Cognitive Assessments for Older People: Systematic Review.JMIR aging · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive training and remediation interventions for substance use disorders: a Delphi consensus study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Pooled it
- The Effect of Smartphone-Delivered Approach Bias Modification Training on Relapse Among Patients Leaving Residential Alcohol Treatment: A Randomised Controlled Trial.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2026Trial
- Efficacy of a personalised alcohol approach bias modification smartphone app in people accessing outpatient alcohol use disorder treatment: A randomised controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Trial
- Alcohol use in the year following approach bias modification during inpatient withdrawal: secondary outcomes from a double-blind, multi-site randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Trial
- "A tool in a toolbox": patient engagement with a gamified and personalised approach bias modification app to reduce harmful alcohol consumption - a qualitative study.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Mobile alcohol-specific inhibition training in adolescents and young adults with alcohol use disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled feasibility trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Digital, Personalized Clinical Trials Among Older Adults, Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Directions for the Future: Aggregated Feasibility Data From Three Trials Among Older Adults.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Approach Bias Modification for reducing Co-Occurring Alcohol and cannabis use among treatment-seeking Adolescents: Protocol of a randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
- A Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Digital Intervention for Reducing Hazardous Alcohol Use in South Korea: Development and Prospective Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Gamified Adaptive Approach Bias Modification in Individuals With Methamphetamine Use History From Communities in Sichuan: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- Risk factors for harmful alcohol consumption among employees and intervention strategies used in the workplace: current state of knowledge based on a literature review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Review
- Opportunities and challenges of lifestyle intervention-based digital therapeutics in LDL-C management: a scoping review.Therapeutic advances in chronic disease · 2025Article
- Investigating approach/avoidance tendencies in male AUD patients through a gait initiation task: An exploratory posturography study.PloS one · 2025Article
- A physiologically-based digital twin for alcohol consumption-predicting real-life drinking responses and long-term plasma PEth.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Web-Based Cognitive Bias Modification Program for Young People With Social Anxiety and Hazardous Alcohol Use: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- The conceptual basis of addiction memory, allostasis and dual processes, and the classical therapy of addiction.Postepy psychiatrii neurologii · 2023Review
- 'A circuit breaker' - Interrupting the alcohol autopilot: A qualitative exploration of participants' experiences of a personalised mHealth approach bias modification intervention for alcohol use.Addictive behaviors reports · 2022Article
- Leveraging mHealth and Wearable Sensors to Manage Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Preliminary efficacy of a digital therapeutics smartphone application for methamphetamine use disorder: An experimental study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundApproach bias modification (ApBM), a computerized cognitive intervention that trains people to "avoid" alcohol-related images and "approach" nonalcohol images, reduces the likelihood of relapse when administered during residential alcohol treatment. However, most individuals experiencing alcohol problems do not require, do not seek, or have difficulty accessing residential treatment. Smartphone-delivered ApBM could offer an easily accessible intervention to reduce alcohol consumption that can be personalized (eg, allowing selection of personally relevant alcohol and positive nonalcohol training images) and gamified to optimize engagement.
objectiveWe examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of "SWiPE," a gamified, personalized alcohol ApBM smartphone app, and explored alcohol consumption and craving outcomes in people drinking at hazardous levels or above (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT] score ≥8) who wanted to reduce their alcohol use.
methodsIn this open-label trial, frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence severity, and craving were measured prior to participants downloading SWiPE. Participants (n=1309) were instructed to complete at least 2 sessions per week for 4 weeks. Recruitment and completion rates were indicators of feasibility. Functionality, aesthetics, and quality ratings were indicators of acceptability. Participants were prompted to report frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption weekly during training and 1 month after training. They completed measures of craving and dependence after 4 weeks of training.
resultsWe recruited 1309 participants (mean age 47.0, SD 10.0 years; 758/1309, 57.9% female; mean AUDIT score 21.8, SD 6.5) over 6 months. Participants completed a median of 5 sessions (IQR 2-9); 31.2% (409/1309) completed ≥8 sessions; and 34.8% (455/1309) completed the posttraining survey. Mean Mobile Application Rating Scale scores indicated good acceptability for functionality and aesthetics and fair acceptability for subjective quality. Among those who completed the posttraining assessment, mean past-week drinking days reduced from 5.1 (SD 2.0) pre-training to 4.2 (SD 2.3) in week 4 (t
conclusionsThe findings suggest SWiPE is feasible and acceptable and may be effective at reducing alcohol consumption and craving in a predominantly nontreatment-seeking sample of adult Australians drinking at hazardous levels. SWiPE's efficacy, relative to a control condition, now needs establishing in a randomized controlled trial. Smartphone-delivered personalized ApBM could be a highly scalable, widely accessible support tool for reducing alcohol use.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000638932; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?ACTRN=12620000638932p. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/21278.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.