247843 Text2Quit: Results from a pilot study of an interactive mobile health program designed to help people quit smoking

Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 12:50 PM

Lorien Abroms, ScD , School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Meenakshi Ahuja , Prevention & Community Health, GWU, Washington, DC
Yvonne Kodl , Dept Prevention & Community Health, GWU, Washington, DC
Richard Windsor, PhD , School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Mobile health applications have shown some promise in helping people quit smoking. This session will review the development and pilot test of a state-of-the-art interactive text-messaging program for smoking cessation, the Text2Quit program. Text2Quit consists of a series of personalized text messages timed around a participant's quit date. The text messages include advice on quitting, peer ex-smoker messages, medication reminders, games, and relapse messages. Text2Quit also lets participants text in for support if they need additional motivation, are having a craving, or relapse. The text program is supported by a personalized web site and periodic emails. Results from a 4-week pilot test of the program (n=23) indicate that the majority of users reported liking the program, reading most/all of the texts, and replying to the texts. On average, users made 11.8 responses to texts over a 4 week period and were responders for 21.7 days after enrollment. Males were found to be more likely to be responders than females (p<.05). The results also indicate that responses declined sharply following the quit date and no participants made it into the “not ready to quit” protocol. All participants reported making a quit attempt, and based on self-report, 14.3% of participants quit smoking at 4 weeks. Plans for revision of the Text2Quit program are discussed.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the Text2Quit program Discuss summary of key results from the pilot study

Keywords: Communication Technology, Smoking Cessation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have developed and am evaluating mobile health promotion programs.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.