A digital platform to address adverse effects resulting from non-disordered drug use, focused on mitigating serious mental illness

About This Grant

This project aims to develop software that addresses key challenges in providing care for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), which is strongly associated with both non-disordered and disordered drug use. The first specific aim is to develop user interfaces to support the execution of Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC). Evidence-based approaches such as CSC have demonstrated clear benefits for treatment of SMI and substance use, but have not yet achieved scale, in part due to the lack of tools to provide continuity of care. Our innovative approach, leveraging Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), will help address the challenges of coordinating collaborative decision-making and seamless connectivity among providers, patients, and family members who serve as caregivers. The second specific aim is to develop a Large Language Model-based role-playing capability which enables families to practice realistic appointment scenarios in advance. In this domain, families and patients consistently report that appointments are not efficient, and do not foster a sense of collaborative decision-making, instead being focused on catching the provider up on the patient’s symptoms. Through realistic role-playing conversations, families can gain confidence, improve communication skills, and support patients more effectively. Recent advances in LLM research suggest that software can provide a scalable, realistic, high-fidelity, clinically accurate approach sufficient for this task. The proposed approach uses LLMs in combination with novel prompting techniques to minimize the LLM’s propensity to fabricate information, to vet potential statements for clinical accuracy, and to ensure adherence to key principles such as best practices from substance use treatment and CSC. To evaluate the platform's feasibility, usability, and potential impact, this effort includes a formative study with our internal team and a pilot summative evaluation with users, which will pave the way for a full effort to validate the project’s objectives under Phase II. Ultimately, this project has the potential to enhance CSC delivery and improve outcomes for individuals with SMI and substance use issues, thereby reducing and mitigating adverse effects of substance use, and reducing the strain on families as they provide care for patients.