Actionable companion · Assessment & reasoning

Learning with agency: Efficacy of a Mobile App-Based Coaching Program for Addiction Prevention among Apprentices: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide, separate from the original research. Proposed actions are not claims or recommendations attributed to the source authors. No independent peer review of this guide is asserted.

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Evidence and context

Title and abstract screening; stage labels describe reported settings, not verified numerical ages. Design labels require full-text appraisal. Reported stage(s): Secondary school. Verify the participant population and task before transferring the findings.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the linked source license:

Background: Addictive behaviors such as tobacco/e-cigarette smoking, at-risk alcohol consumption, cannabis use or compulsive internet use are common among apprentices. ready4life is a mobile app-based preventive intervention program for apprentices that promotes life skills and reduces risky behavior. The present study tested the efficacy of ready4life for addiction prevention among apprentices in Switzerland within a controlled trial. Methods: Two-arm, cluster-randomized controlled trial including assessments at baseline and follow-up after 6 months. Participants of the intervention group received coaching by a conversational agent for 16 weeks. The main outcome measure was a composite score for addictive behaviors, which included (1) at-risk drinking, (2) tobacco/e-cigarette smoking, (3) cannabis use and (4) problematic internet use. Results: A total of 2275 students from 159 vocational school classes in Switzerland, were invited for study participation. Of these, 1351 (59.4%) students with a mean age of 17.3 years and a male proportion of 56.6% provided informed consent to participate. The follow up assessment at month 6 was completed by 962 (71.2%) study participants. The results concerning the primary outcome showed a stronger decrease of addictive behaviors between baseline and follow up in the intervention group compared to the control group. In particular, significant effects were observed for at-risk drinking and problematic Internet use, while no significant effects were observed for tobacco/e-cigarette smoking and cannabis use. Conclusions: The majority of apprentices invited for program participation within vocational schools participated in the ready4life program for addiction prevention. The mobile app-based coaching was effective in reducing risk behaviors such as at-risk drinking and problematic Internet use in a group of adolescents who have an especially high risk of engaging in addictive activities.

What kind of evidence is this?

Conversational & pedagogical agents · Randomized study reported

Stage: Secondary school. Screening labels describe reported context and study-design language. They are not a risk-of-bias rating or proof of effectiveness for an age band.

Study methods · source passage

This study aimed at testing the efficacy of ready4life, a mobile app-based coaching program for addiction prevention among apprentices. A two-arm, parallel group, cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted, including assessments at baseline and follow-up at month 6. The effects of the intervention was contrasted with an assessment-only control group.

Limitations and uncertainty · source passage

Main limitations of the current study are: (1) since all data are self-reported, there is a chance that social desirability and a probable recall bias may have affected the findings. (2) An examination of the reliability and validity of the composite score used is pending. (3) The study was conducted in 2021/22 during the corona pandemic with varying restrictions depending on the time and place of recruitment. These restrictions also influenced the social life and substance use of young people and accordingly the generalizability of the results of this study. (4) Since we recruited a convenience sample of school classes that were open to participating in the study, the results could not be generalized to vocational school students in Switzerland.

Design the system before the pilot

Define whether the agent asks questions, gives hints, explains or assesses. Test hallucinated feedback, excessive praise, misleading confidence and responses when the learner is confused. A conversational interface alone does not establish autonomous agency.

Use common rubrics, blind scoring where feasible and a fresh unaided reasoning task. Document permissible assistance and avoid treating AI-detector scores as proof of misconduct.

A 90-day district pilot

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Have the curriculum lead and a teacher read the methods and limitations. Record the study design, sample, comparator, outcomes and evidence gaps. Define a local question that the study can help inform.
Days 16–30 · Design. Ask learners to attempt a problem unaided, compare an agent hint, explain a revision and verify the final reasoning against a trusted source. Make the permitted use explicit for each assignment. Name an accountable owner and set the baseline, success threshold and budget before implementation.
Days 31–60 · Test. Start with a small voluntary cohort, preserve an accessible non-AI route and require teacher review. Use synthetic or de-identified examples; approve data handling and tool terms through district processes.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Measure unaided transfer and delayed retention, calibration of confidence and the ability to identify an incorrect AI explanation. Record whether help-seeking becomes answer copying. Compare with baseline, document uncertainty and stop or revise if learning worsens, access is unequal or critical errors persist.

The board decision brief

Report the learning problem, evidence quality, participating population, total cost including review time, measured benefit, errors, access differences and remaining uncertainties. Make a dated recommendation to stop, revise or expand. A positive perception survey alone does not establish learning improvement.

Attribution and reuse

Severin Haug; Nikolaos Boumparis; Andreas Wenger; Michael Patrick Schaub; Raquel Paz Castro. Efficacy of a Mobile App-Based Coaching Program for Addiction Prevention among Apprentices: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022-11-25). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315730

Companion prepared 2026-10-30. Original authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract is an attributed source extract; the implementation plan is new AI-assisted editorial material, offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license. This guide has not undergone independent peer review.