Understanding Pathways to Wellness and Recovery in Detroit - Digital Recovery Support Services (UPWARD D-RSS)

July 20, 2026 updated by: Sharon Reif, Brandeis University

UPWARD Study RCT of Digital Recovery Support Services (D-RSS) Among a Black Population in Recovery From Alcohol Use Disorders

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if digital recovery support services (such as smartphone app) help to support alcohol recovery. We focus on a community of Black and African American people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who receive in-person recovery support services from a recovery community center.

Participants will:

  • Have an initial 2-hour in-person visit with the research team. During this visit, participants will be asked about themselves and their recovery from alcohol problems. They will also learn about digital recovery resources.
  • Use digital recovery resources on their own for 12 weeks.
  • Complete a short, weekly survey about their experience using digital recovery resources.
  • Have a follow-up 1-hour in-person visit where the researcher asks about again about the participants, their recovery and how they felt about using the digital recovery support services.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

See study Detailed Protocol in Study Documents.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

65

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48208
        • Recruiting
        • Detroit Recovery Project
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sharon Reif, PhD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Able to communicate in English and read at an 8th grade reading level.
  2. Able to read and sign an informed consent form.
  3. Comfortable with smartphone technology or willing and able to learn.
  4. Identify as Black or African American.
  5. Is an adult over the age of 18.
  6. Is in recovery from alcohol problems for at least 3 months and no more than 5 years.
  7. Is receiving in-person recovery support services at our partner recovery community center at the time of screening and enrollment.
  8. Willing to receive and respond to weekly texts with a survey link for brief assessments, and complete two in-person research assessments (baseline and 13-week).

Exclusion Criteria:

Does not meet inclusion criteria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TAU + DRSS
At the initial in-person visit, participants will complete a structured interview of baseline assessments and will be provided with a menu of digital recovery support services (D-RSS) to participants, technical assistance, and a phone and data plan (if needed). The research team will discuss the D-RSS menu with the participants and guide them through app installation and use. Following the initial visit, it is up to the participants to engage with the D-RSS. We will send a text survey 1 week after the visit, and each week thereafter for 12 weeks, that assesses their engagement with in-person recovery supports, D-RSS, and their current recovery status. The 3-month visit will be scheduled in the week following the last (week 12) text survey, at which participants will meet with research staff for a final in-person assessment.
Behavioral: Digital recovery support services
The primary intervention is the provision of a menu of digital recovery support services (D-RSS) to participants, along with a phone and data plan (if needed) and technical assistance. We have created a menu of D-RSS options that have been vetted by our team as appropriate for a range of recovery goals (e.g., manage emotions, track sobriety, connect with others) and for a range of technological literacy, as well as being culturally relevant or at minimum culturally agnostic. Types of D-RSS presented to participants include mobile applications, websites, and video playlists, all of which relate to and support addiction recovery. Participants also may use other D-RSS that they identify.
Other Names:
  • DRSS
  • Digital RSS
  • Smartphone apps

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Usability and Acceptability of D-RSS
Time Frame: At the end of the trial (13 weeks)
We include a module consisting of 20 items measuring usability and acceptability on a 4-point Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree). These items were selected from several sources, so do not have a pre-existing scale; we will consider whether a scale is appropriate by examining inter-item correlations and Cronbach's alphas for potentially conceptually similar subsets of items.
At the end of the trial (13 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Brandeis University

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Detroit Recovery Project INC

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sharon Reif, PhD, Brandeis University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 13, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 20, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 20, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 22126R
  • R01AA029817 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All data from the trial will be shared via the NIAAA data archive.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

July 2026 to July 2029

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Deidentified subject data will be available to those who meet the expectations of the NIAAA data archive. Supporting data will be available through clinicaltrials.gov or upon request.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Alcohol Use Disorder

Clinical Trials on Digital recovery support services

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Ukraine

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe