Testing the Impact of Smartphone-based Messaging to Support Young Adult Smoking Cessation
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Summary
Clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation emphasize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help patients develop coping strategies for urges. Mindfulness or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offer a different approach, which teaches smokers psychological flexibility through accepting negative experiences. While there is evidence for the efficacy of both CBT and Mindfulness/ACT smoking cessation interventions, it is unclear if these approaches are efficacious when implemented in real-time and with young adults. The overall goal of this proposal is to evaluate the efficacy of CBT and Mindfulness/ACT messages for young adults targeted at specific high-risk situations for smoking.
Description
This research will address the following specific aims: Aim 1: To test CBT and Mindfulness/ACT intervention message efficacy for reducing momentary smoking urges (N=80). To inform just-in-time interventions, it is crucial to test if CBT and Mindfulness/ACT based messages can reduce momentary smoking urges. The investigators will conduct a micro-randomized trial (repeated within-subject randomizations of messages) to accomplish this. In line with the investigators' existing protocol, participants first collect Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data for 14 days, allowing the investigators t…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–30 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: 1. live in the U.S. 2. read English; 3. are between 18 and 30 years of age; 4. own an iPhone or Android smartphone; 5. have smoked ≥100 cigarettes in their lives and currently smoke at least 3 cigarettes per day on 5 or more days of the week; 6. are planning to quit smoking within the next 30 days. Exclusion Criteria: * None
Interventions
- BehavioralSmartphone-based intervention messages
Intervention messages in the proposed trial will address specific high-risk situations for smoking and smoking urges. Messages will focus on two key situational triggers for message matching: 1. Stress (high/low) and 2. Presence of other smokers (yes/no). For each situation, characterized by a combination of these characteristics, several messages were developed. To improve user engagement with the intervention, all messages contain visual content in form of pictures.
Location
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthBaltimore, Maryland