Prevention and intervention assistance system

Abstract

Systems and methods for online assisted pre-intervention or “prevention” are described. A prevention system may provide the ability to initiate a prevention campaign in order to create a customized support forum for persons who may be afflicted by a harmful addiction. The prevention system can receive a request to initiate a campaign for a recipient from a host and facilitate the invitation of other participants to the campaign. Knowledge-based questionnaires may be dynamically generated for the host and participants, and a profile built for the recipient based on received responses. Customized messages may be generated by the prevention system using expert knowledge-based rules, and delivered to the recipient. The messages may be unique to the recipient based on the recipient's circumstances and relationship to the host and participants. Support services provided by the prevention system encourage the recipient to agree to accept help and provide action plan recommendations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An automated addiction intervention method designed to assist individuals suffering from additions to begin a recovery process, the method comprising:
 as implemented by a computer system comprising computer hardware and memory, the computer system configured with specific executable instructions,   providing a first questionnaire to a first individual, wherein the first questionnaire is designed to gather, from the first individual, intervention qualification data related to a second individual;   receiving, from the first individual, one or more responses to the first questionnaire;   determining whether addiction recovery assistance for the second individual is qualified, based at least in part on the one or more responses to the first questionnaire; and   in response to determining that the addiction recovery assistance for the second individual is qualified,
 initializing a profile for the second individual based on the responses received based on the first questionnaire; 
 administering a second questionnaire for the first individual, wherein the second questionnaire is designed to gather addiction data related to the second individual, and wherein administering the second questionnaire comprises:
 determining a series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire, wherein each set of questions in the series is selected dynamically based at least in part on responses received from the first individual to each preceding set of questions in the series provided in the second questionnaire; 
 providing each of the series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire to the first individual; and 
 receiving, from the first individual, responses to each of the series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire; 
 
 updating the profile for the second individual based on responses received for the second questionnaire; and 
 generating a message for the addiction recovery assistance on behalf of the first individual and intended for the second individual, wherein the message is customized for the second individual based at least in part on the profile for the second individual. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the first individual, a request to invite a third individual to the addiction recovery assistance;   providing an invitation to the third individual based on the received request;   initializing a profile for the third individual in response to the third individual accepting the invitation;   administering a third questionnaire for the third individual, wherein the third questionnaire is designed to gather addiction data related to the second individual and the third individual;   updating the profile for the second individual based on responses received for the third questionnaire; and   generating a secondary message for the addiction recovery assistance on behalf of the third individual and intended for the second individual.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 providing, to the first individual, the message and the secondary message; and   receiving, from the first individual, a selection of at least one of the message and the secondary message.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing the message to the second individual, wherein the message further comprises an invitation to accept help;   in response to receiving, from the second individual, an indication that the second individual has accepted the invitation:
 updating the profile for the second individual; and 
 initiating an action plan for the addiction recovery assistance for the second individual; or 
   in response to receiving an indication that the second individual has not accepted the invitation:
 providing, on a periodic basis, one or more additional messages to the second individual, wherein each the one or more additional messages are distinct from each other and comprise an invitation to accept help. 
   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving from the first individual an item of personalized content for inclusion in the message to the second individual.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the item of personalized content is included in the message to the second individual in response to receiving approval from a trained addiction professional. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the item of personalized content comprises one or more or a photograph, an audio recording, a video recording, or a personalized message. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the message is customized based on at least a relationship between the first individual and the second individual, a type of addiction from which the second individual may be suffering, and a type of character associated with the first individual. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein the relationship between the first individual and the second individual is one of parent-child, husband-wife, friend, co-worker, boss, sibling, relative, religious affiliate, student-teacher, or other addiction sufferer. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the second questionnaire is customized based on at least a relationship between the first individual and the second individual, a type of addiction from which the second individual may be suffering, and a type of character associated with the first individual. 
     
     
         11 . An automated addiction intervention system designed to assist individuals suffering from additions to begin a recovery process, the system comprising:
 one or more computer devices in communication with a physical data store storing addiction and prevention data, wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
 provide a first questionnaire to a host individual, wherein the first questionnaire is designed to gather, from the host individual, intervention qualification data related to a recipient individual; 
 receive, from the host individual, one or more responses to the first questionnaire; 
 determine whether an addiction recovery assistance for the recipient individual is qualified, based at least in part on the one or more responses to the first questionnaire; and 
 in response to determining that the addiction recovery assistance for the recipient individual is qualified,
 initialize, via the physical data store, a profile for the recipient individual based on the responses received for the first questionnaire; 
 administer a second questionnaire for the host individual, wherein the second questionnaire is designed to gather addiction data related to the recipient individual; 
 update, via the physical data store, the profile for the recipient individual based on responses received for the second questionnaire; and 
 generate a message for the addiction recovery assistance on behalf of the host individual and intended for the recipient individual, wherein the message is customized for the recipient individual based at least in part on the profile for the recipient individual. 
 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein to administer the second questionnaire for the host individual, the one or more computing devices are configured to:
 determine a series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire, wherein each set of questions in the series is selected dynamically based at least in part on responses received from the host individual to each preceding set of questions in the series provided in the second questionnaire;   provide each of the series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire to the host individual; and   receive, from the host individual, responses to each of the series of sets of questions for the second questionnaire.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the message is customized based on at least a relationship between the participant individual and the recipient individual, a type of addiction from which the recipient individual may be suffering, and a type of character associated with the participant individual. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
 provide, to the recipient individual, the message for the addiction recovery assistance.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the message is provided to the recipient individual by text message, short message service, or email. 
     
     
         16 . An automated addiction recovery assistance system designed to assist individuals suffering from additions to begin a recovery process, the system comprising:
 one or more computer devices in communication with a physical data store storing addiction profile data, wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:   determine an addiction profile for a recipient individual, the addiction profile determined by comparison with addiction profiles of a plurality of individuals accessed from the addiction profile data store, wherein the addiction profile comprises data for a possible addiction disorder from which the recipient individual may suffer and a plurality of participant individuals associated with the recipient individual; and   for each of the plurality of participant individuals:
 retrieve, from the addiction profile, a keyword tag-weight table mapping an at least one keyword associated with the possible addiction disorder to a keyword weight indicative of a relative strength of association with the possible addiction disorder to the recipient individual; 
 access, from a second physical data store storing addiction disorder data, a plurality of potential message portions based on the recipient individual's profile; 
 select a message portion from the plurality of potential message portions, wherein the message portion is selected based on a comparison of the keyword weight to each of a respective plurality of tag-weights associated with the respective plurality of potential message portions; and 
 generate a message from the respective participant individual to the recipient individual, wherein the message includes at least the selected message portions. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the message is customized based on at least a relationship between the respective participant individual and the recipient individual, a type of addiction from which the recipient individual may be suffering, or a type of character associated with the respective participant individual. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the relationship between the respective participant individual and the recipient individual is one of parent-child, husband-wife, friend, co-worker, boss, sibling, relative, religious affiliate, student-teacher, or other addiction sufferer. 
     
     
         19 . The system method of  claim 17 , wherein the relationship between the respective participant individual and the recipient individual is characterized by a relative age difference, a family relationship, a prior history of joint addiction or abuse, a prior history of treatment, a common genetic trait, a common marital status, or other degree of closeness factor. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
 provide, to a host individual, each message from the respective participant individuals to the recipient individual;   receive, from the host individual, a selection of at least one of the messages from the respective participant individuals for delivery to the recipient individual; and   provide, to the recipient individual, the at least one selected message.