Reducing drug use is possible thanks to ICT

Irene Vega

78,9% of the people who have carried out the study present some type of risk consumption, moderate or severe, in any of the nine substances analyzed. This is one of the main data reflected in the research carried out by the URJC Community Medicine and Primary Care group, in collaboration with other groups from public institutions in Madrid. To carry out this study, the adaptation to a web version of a test validated by the WHO (World Health Organization) has been carried out. This test consists of a screening of the problems related to any type of drug in the general population. "The objective of the designed tool is to detect, as a guide, the risks derived from substance use and, if possible, start a self-guided treatment to reduce consumption," explains Juan Antonio López Rodríguez, a researcher at the URJC and co-author of the study. 

In this sense, through the web application www.assitete.es, with free access, it has been possible to determine the profiles and consumption patterns of the users who have consulted and completed the form. "This tool could be useful for a group of patients who do not attend primary care consultations and regularly use information technologies or ICTs", highlights the URJC researcher. In addition, with the risk report deduced from this survey, users can go to their family doctor or become aware of the need to reduce substance use. The platform is based on WHO intervention manual in Spanish and, as described by Juan Antonio López Rodríguez, “guides the user in a few steps to try to reduce consumption when the risk is estimated to be low and can be done from home. It is a program of three visits, under a confidential username and password, where a record of the drugs consumed is created, a decisional balance is made on why it is desired to abandon consumption and proposals are made and a follow-up of its reduction”. 

Coinciding data with other national surveys

During the first six months of the tool's operation, around 1.700 people have completed the test. The application has been able to detect that the main risk drugs in the population coincide with those that the EDADES National Survey on Drugs in Spain has reflected in its interviews. The results of this study have recently been published in the scientific journal Journal of Medical Internet Research.

The research concludes that the average age of the people who have taken the survey is 37,4 years and it has been observed that nearly 80% have some moderate or severe risk consumption for one of the nine substances screened. According to this study, the most consumed drugs are tobacco (50,7%), alcohol (26,4%), cannabis (21,8%) and sedatives or hypnotics (11,6%), highlighting some differences , as Juan Antonio López Rodríguez underlines: “We have observed that men consume more alcohol, cannabis and cocaine; and young people between 18 and 35 years old mainly consume cannabis”.