Development and evaluation of the See Me Smoke-Free multi-behavioral mHealth app for women smokers.
Women face particular challenges when quitting smoking, especially those with weight concerns. A multi-behavioral smoking cessation intervention addressing these concerns and incorporating guided imagery may assist women to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors. An mHealth app can easily disseminate such an intervention. The goals of this pilot study were to develop and test the feasibility and potential of the See Me Smoke-Free™mHealth app to address smoking, diet, and physical activity among women smokers. We used pragmatic, direct-to-consumer methods to develop and test program content, functionality, and the user interface and conduct a pre-/post-test, 90-day pilot study. We enrolled 151 participants. Attrition was 52%, leaving 73 participants. At 90 days, 47% of participants reported 7-day abstinence and significant increases in physical activity and fruit consumption. Recruitment methods worked well, but similar to other mHealth studies, we experienced high attrition. This study suggests that a guided imagery mHealth app has the potential to address multiple behaviors. Future research should consider different methods to improve retention and assess efficacy.
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. Judithg@email.arizona.edu.
Judith S
JS
Gordon
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Julie
J
Armin
Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Melanie
M
D Hingle
College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, University of West Virginia, Morgantown, WV, USA.
Peter
P
Giacobbi
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
James K
JK
Cunningham
Departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Thienne
T
Johnson
College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Kristopher
K
Abbate
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Carol L
CL
Howe
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Denise J
DJ
Roe
D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D066249:Craving; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D057566:Self Report; D012907:Smoking / Q000628:therapy*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods
Diet; Guided imagery; Multi-behavioral; Physical activity; Tobacco cessation; mHealth