Case Study of Adapting a Phone-based Support System to Enable Drug-dependent Patients to Develop Coping Skills.

This paper describes a case study of adapting a phone-based support system (CopeDiary) to help drug-dependent patients obtain, maintain, and practice coping skills for dealing with high-risk situations, thereby preventing drug relapse. We designed and implemented CopeDiary and conducted real-world user testing on three recovering drug-dependent patients receiving outpatient abstinence treatment at a hospital. CopeDiary was designed to be an assistive tool for therapists to educate drug-dependent patients about coping skills. Follow-up interviews revealed design-related challenges regarding how to engage drug-dependent patients and therapists about learning and teaching coping strategies for daily life.