What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Addiction, Mental Health.

AI-powered app shows promise, but simple support works just as well

Q: Where was this research published?

Published in Journal of substance use and addiction treatment on April 24, 2026.

A relational agent for treating substance use in adults: A randomized controlled trial with a psychoeducational comparator.

Journal of substance use and addiction treatment • April 24, 2026 • Moderately Relevant

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AI Summary

This randomized controlled trial tested Woebot for Substance Use Disorders (W-SUD), a smartphone app designed to help adults reduce problematic substance use through an AI-powered relational agent. The study included 258 adults (reduced to 202 in analysis) who engaged in problematic substance use—including alcohol (73.3%), cannabis (30.7%), stimulants (17.3%), and cocaine (12.4%). Participants were randomly assigned to either use the W-SUD app or receive standard psychoeducational emails over 8 weeks, with a 1-month follow-up period.

The surprising finding was that both groups showed nearly identical improvements, with no statistically significant difference between W-SUD and the control condition. Both groups reduced their past-month substance use occasions by approximately 13 occasions (from an average of 33 uses per month), representing moderate to large improvements that persisted one month after treatment ended. Notably, improvements in substance use correlated with reductions in anxiety and depression in both conditions, suggesting that reducing substance use and improving mental health are interconnected. Importantly, there were no serious adverse events reported in either group.

While W-SUD users engaged extensively with the app (sending a median of 322 messages), this additional digital support did not outperform the simpler psychoeducational approach. Both conditions proved effective, suggesting that accessible, scalable digital interventions show promise for reducing problematic substance use, though the specific type of intervention may matter less than ensuring people receive structured support. The findings highlight that for individuals with co-occurring anxiety or depression—conditions common among those with substance use disorders—treating one may help improve the other.

📄 Original Abstract

Highly accessible and scalable, digital mental health interventions can reduce barriers associated with traditional treatment. Woebot for Substance Use Disorders (W-SUD) is a smartphone application in development that uses Woebot, a guided self-help relational agent intended to offer support to track and reduce problematic substance use. Two formative studies supported W-SUD's feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy to reduce substance use at end-of-treatment (EOT). In a randomized trial with a 1-month post-treatment follow-up, we aimed to evaluate W-SUD's efficacy in reducing substance use occasions relative to a psychoeducational control. U.S. adults (N = 258) with problematic substance use (CAGE-AID≥2) were recruited online and randomized to W-SUD or an email-delivered psychoeducational control. Primary and secondary outcomes were change in past-month substance use occasions from baseline to 8-weeks EOT and baseline to 1-month follow-up, respectively. The analytic sample (N = 202; 107 = W-SUD; 95 = psychoeducation) averaged 38.3 years of age (SD = 10.4) and was 53.5% (108/202) female and 71.3% (144/202) White. At baseline, participants averaged 33.1 (SD = 18.3) past-month substance use occasions with problematic substance use reported as alcohol (73.3%, 148/202), cannabis (30.7%, 62/202), stimulants (17.3%, 35/202), and cocaine (12.4%, 25/202). Anxiety (32.7%, 66/202) or depression (23.3%, 47/202) co-occurred. W-SUD participants sent a median of 322.5 (interquartile range: 59.8, 924.0) in-app messages during the intervention. There was no significant treatment effect on the primary (beta = -0.675, p = 0.741; 95%CI = -4.96-3.49) or secondary outcomes. Baseline to EOT within-group change in past-month substance use occasions were - 13.6 (SD = 15.4, d = -0.879) and - 12.9 (SD = 15.3, d = -0.847) for the W-SUD and psychoeducation conditions, respectively, indicating moderate to large changes in both, which was sustained at 1-month follow-up. Decreases in substance use occasions significantly correlated with decreases in anxiety and depression and with greater treatment satisfaction in both groups. There were no serious adverse events. Participants in both conditions reported significant improvements in primary and secondary outcomes at EOT and 1-month post-treatment, with no statistically significant difference in improvement between conditions. GOV (POSTED 2021-06-14): NCT04925570, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04925570.

Paper Type

📄 Research

Publication

Journal: Journal of substance use and addiction treatment
Published: April 24, 2026
PMID: 42035882
DOI: 10.1016/j.josat.2026.209993

Authors (11)

Judith J Prochaska Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, United States. Electronic address: jpro@stanford.edu.
Maggie Wang Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, School of Medicine, Stanford University, United States.
Amy Chieng Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, United States.
Jessie Moore Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, United States.
Erin A Vogel TSET Health Promotion Research Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, United States.
+6 more authors