An Evaluation of the Pink Cloud Application in Post- Treatment Substance Use Disorder Support

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Substance Use

• Registration Number: NCT07042451
• Lead Sponsor: Loyola Marymount University

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) will evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of Pink Cloud, a mobile health application designed to support recovery from substance and alcohol use disorders (SUD/AUD). The app provides access to over 245,000 in-person and virtual 12-Step meetings, along with features such as a sobriety counter, daily planner, and personal inventory tools. In this study, 1,410 participants in various stages of recovery will be randomly assigned to receive either access to the Pink Cloud app or to a control condition. Participants will complete follow-up assessments at 1, 3, and 6 months. Primary outcomes include number of days sober and frequency of drug and alcohol problems. Secondary outcomes include meeting attendance, proportion of sober individuals in one's social network, and engagement in recovery-related activities. The investigators hypothesize that participants in the Pink Cloud group will report more days sober and fewer substance use problems than those in the control group, and that they will also report attending more meetings, having a greater proportion of sober peers, and engaging more frequently in recovery activities.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-06
• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-20
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-06-20
• Study First Posted: 2025-06-29
• Last Update Posted: 2025-06-29
• Study Start: 2025-07-01
• Primary Completion: 2026-07
• Study Completion: 2026-08-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1410

Inclusion Criteria

• Participant is 18 years of age or older
• Participant is willing to attend a 12-Step or peer-to-peer recovery meeting (in person or virtual) within the next week
• Participant owns a personal smartphone with cellular service
• Participant is a permanent resident of the United States
• Participant feels comfortable reading and understanding written English in everyday situations
• Participant has consumed alcohol and/or used drugs (excluding tobacco or prescribed medication) at some point in their life, but not within the past couple of days
• Participant is not currently attending outpatient or residential treatment for substance and/or alcohol use
• Participant does not have a plan to enter substance and/or alcohol treatment in the next 30 days
• Participant has been invited by the research team to either the intervention or control condition and redeemed their subscription code.
• Informed consent is provided

Exclusion Criteria

• Participant is younger than 18 years of age
• Participant is unwilling to attend a 12-Step or peer-to-peer recovery meeting (in person or virtual) within the next week
• Participant does not own a personal smartphone with cellular service
• Participant is not a permanent resident of the United States
• Participant does not feel comfortable reading and understanding written English in everyday situations
• Participant has consumed alcohol or used drugs (excluding tobacco or prescribed medication) within the past couple of days
• Participant has never consumed alcohol or used drugs
• Participant is currently attending outpatient or residential treatment for substance and/or alcohol use
• Participant has a plan to enter substance and/or alcohol treatment in the next 30 days
• Participant was not invited by the research team or did not redeem their assigned subscription code
• Informed consent is not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in sobriety status between baseline and 1 month	baseline, 1 month	Self-reported number of days participant reports not using alcohol or drugs in the past 30 days.
Change in sobriety status between baseline and 3 months	baseline, 3 months	Self-reported number of days participant reports not using alcohol or drugs in the past 90 days.
Change in sobriety status between baseline and 6 months	baseline, 6 months	Self-reported number of days participant reports not using alcohol or drugs in the past 180 days.
Change in alcohol and drug problems between baseline and 1 month	baseline, 1 month	Self-reported frequency of alcohol and drugs problems in the past 30 days.
Change in alcohol and drug problems between baseline and 3 months	baseline, 3 months	Self-reported frequency of alcohol and drugs problems in the past 90 days.
Change in alcohol and drug problems between baseline and 6 months	baseline, 6 months	Self-reported frequency of alcohol and drugs problems in the past 180 days.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in social network between baseline and 3 months	baseline, 3 months	Proportion of social network that is sober in the past 90 days.
Change in social network between baseline and 6 months	baseline, 6 months	Proportion of social network that is sober in the past 180 days.
Change in recovery related activities between baseline and 1 month	baseline, 1 month	Frequency of engagement with recovery related activities during the past 30 days.
Change in meeting attendance between baseline and 1 month	baseline, 1 month	Frequency of 12-Step / peer-to-peer meetings attended in the past 30 days.
Change in meeting attendance between baseline and 3 months	baseline, 3 months	Frequency of 12-Step / peer-to-peer meetings attended in the past 90 days.
Change in meeting attendance between baseline and 6 months	baseline, 6 months	Frequency of 12-Step / peer-to-peer meetings attended in the past 180 days.
Change in social network between baseline and 1 month	baseline, 1 month	Proportion of social network that is sober in the past 30 days.
Change in recovery related activities between baseline and 3 months	baseline, 3 months	Frequency of engagement with recovery related activities during the past 90 days.
Change in recovery related activities between baseline and 6 months	baseline, 6 months	Frequency of engagement with recovery related activities during the past 180 days.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Loyola Marymount; 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, California, United States