Abstract
Ketamine is an addictive drug that has been shown to inflict considerable physical and mental damage on users. Due in part to its low cost, ketamine has become one of the most popular club drugs among young adults and teenagers in Southeast Asia. This paper proposes a phone-based support system with Bluetooth-enabled device for the screening of saliva, as a means of assisting ketamine-dependent patients to self-monitor their ketamine use and helping them obtain, maintain, and practice coping skills for dealing with high-risk situations, thereby preventing drug relapse. We also conducted two real-world practical experiment to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system and understand the underlying design challenges. First study is wherein three ketamine-dependent patients self-administered tests at least once per day over a period of three weeks. The following study conducted user testing on three recovering drug-dependent patients, different from the former experiment, receiving outpatient abstinence treatment at a hospital. Follow-up interviews revealed design-related challenges regarding how to design such self-monitoring system and how to engage drug-dependent patients and therapists about learning and teaching coping strategies for daily life.