At the 11th Scientific Meeting of the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII), Dr. Colditz presented the NEAR-FAR Dashboard for consideration and feedback. Also see our related poster about NEAR-FAR that was presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Abstract
A public dashboard for Networks Enhancing Addiction Recovery (NEAR)
Problem addressed: Problematic alcohol and substance use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. For those seeking peer support (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous), access to in-person resources was disrupted and adaptation to online video/hybrid meeting formats posed serious challenges. Early in the pandemic, public health agencies provided guides to locate online addiction peer support groups. However, guides were not systematically developed, included resources of uncertain quality, and failed to capture well-researched and popular online support forums. As a result, extant resource guides presented a highly limited scope of available online support. To address this problem, we developed the Networks Enhancing Addiction Recovery - Forum Activity Roadmap (NEAR-FAR) online resource guide and interactive dashboard.
Project to be demonstrated: NEAR-FAR provides information about addiction recovery topics (e.g., definitions, recovery identities), considerations for forum use (e.g., safety, privacy, civility), and an interactive dashboard to identify relevant recovery support forums. Through a review of extant resource guides, systematic web searches, and cross-referencing 337 websites, we identified 81 sites that included 210 relevant peer support forums (53% general addiction, 21% alcohol, 8% stimulants, 7% opioids, 6% nicotine, 5% marijuana). As 57% of public forums had little to no recent user activity, we developed common metrics of activity and enhanced the dashboard with pictographic indicators. We further categorized website features and forums that were targeted toward specific demographics (e.g., gender, spiritual orientation). The NEAR-FAR dashboard is a comprehensive and easily navigable guide to active forums for addiction recovery support. This public resource will be useful for individuals in recovery, treatment providers, and addiction researchers. Supplemental data on clinical usability and acceptability will be described.