MAVERICK UK: Exploring Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cannabis use

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among UK Veterans, especially for those with problematic drug use. Co-occurrence of problematic cannabis use and PTSD is associated with greater PTSD symptom severity, decreased likelihood of cannabis use cessation, worse clinical outcomes, and increased societal burden. Despite increased screening efforts among Veterans, there are no effective strategies for predicting risk for PTSD and problematic drug use escalation before these conditions develop, worsen, or become chronic. This projects seeks to track these using digital technology.

The primary aim of this study is to determine the feasibility and usability of a 4-week longitudinal study via MAVERICK, a smartphone app, to collect active and passive data from UK Veterans with problematic drug use. A secondary aim is to explore associations between active and passive data streams and PTSD and problematic drug use.

This feasibility study employs a 4-week (28 day) longitudinal design (daily data collection), multiple passive data collection features via a bespoke study smartphone app called MAVERICK, and active data collection via wearable technology to predict clinically meaningful escalations in cannabis use and PTSD symptoms in UK Veterans. Questionnaire data will be collected between 06:00 and 10:00 each day. Passive data will be collected continuously in the background.

• What is the feasibility of conducting a 4-week longitudinal study using MAVERICK to collect active and passive data from UK Veterans with problematic drug use?
• Are there significant associations between the active and passive data streams obtained via MAVERICK, PTSD and cannabis use in the observed group of UK Veterans?

This study is seeking to recruit 40 Veterans who have left service in the past 2 years, own a smartphone, own a wearable device, have used cannabis in the last month and have symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder