About this code

SARA is a mobile health app to engage participants with ongoing self-reporting (e.g., completing a daily survey) using timely rewards thereby reinforcing participants for data input. SARA version 1 was initially developed for adolescents and emerging adults at high-risk of substance abuse, and the reinforcement strategies were developmentally and culturally appropriate for the target population.

SARA version 2 is extending version 1 in a number of ways: (i) we are focusing on self-report-engagement problems for a range of health issues faced by youth. e.g., one project focuses on younger adults with cancer and we are using SARA to increase self-reports on factors related to medication adherence. (ii) we are creating a modularized and open-source version so that other research groups can take the code and easily adapt the code for their own research problems. (iii) we are focusing on developing and deploying reinforcement algorithms to deliver the right reward at the right time so that people stay engaged over an extended period of time.