“How much do you drink?”: A mobile application for empowerment and increase awareness in young users of alcohol “How much do you drink?”: A mobile application for empowerment and increase awareness in young users of alcohol How much do you drink?”: An application mobile for empowerment and awareness of young alcohol users

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Studies on the epidemiology of alcohol in Brazil indicate that its consumption has been occurring in increasingly younger age groups, suggesting the need to review control, prevention, and treatment measures. To this end, a wide range of approaches are needed to reach alcohol users, which can be done with new technology resources, in the case of this study, through mHealth technology. Therefore, this study aims to create an application for mobile devices that empowers the user regarding their personal level of alcohol consumption, the implications and associated risks, as well as allowing the user to create consumption reduction goals. METHODS: The technology was designed through weekly meetings with a multidisciplinary team composed of students and researchers from Psychology, Social Work, and Computer Science, based on Participatory Interaction Design, raising important and fundamental points for approaching alcohol users. RESULTS: It was observed that it was possible to build a concrete and applicable tool that is in the final testing phase. CONCLUSION: The application designed, in its beta version, presents features for self-awareness of alcohol consumption, which extends to different intensities of use, facilitating both prevention and identification of problems already present.