Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Apr 30;9(4):e25030. doi: 10.2196/25030.
Decreasing trends in the number of individuals accessing face-to-face support are leaving a significant gap in the treatment options for smokers seeking to quit. Face-to-face behavioral support and other interventions attempt to target psychological factors such as the self-efficacy and motivation to quit of smokers, as these factors are associated with an increased likelihood of making quit attempts and successfully quitting. Although digital interventions, such as smoking cessation mobile apps, could provide a promising avenue to bridge the growing treatment gap, little is known about their impact on psychological factors that are vital for smoking cessation.
This study aims to better understand the possible impact of smoking cessation mobile apps on important factors for successful cessation, such as self-efficacy and motivation to quit. Our aim is to assess the self-efficacy and motivation to quit levels of smokers before and after the use of smoking cessation mobile apps.
Smokers seeking to quit were recruited to participate in a 4-week app-based study. After screening, eligible participants were asked to use a mobile app (Kwit or Quit Genius). The smoking self-efficacy questionnaire and the motivation to stop smoking scale were used to measure the self-efficacy and motivation to quit, respectively. Both were assessed at baseline (before app use), midstudy (2 weeks after app use), and end-study (4 weeks after app use). Paired sample two-tailed t tests were used to investigate whether differences in self-efficacy and motivation between study time points were statistically significant. Linear regression models investigated associations between change in self-efficacy and change in motivation to quit before and after app use with age, gender, and nicotine dependence.
A total of 116 participants completed the study, with the majority being male (71/116, 61.2%), employed (76/116, 65.6%), single (77/116, 66.4%), and highly educated (87/116, 75.0%). A large proportion of participants had a low to moderate dependence on nicotine (107/116, 92.2%). A statistically significant increase of 5.09 points (95% CI 1.83-8.34) from 37.38 points at baseline in self-efficacy was found at the end of the study. Statistically significant increases were also found for the subcomponents of self-efficacy (intrinsic and extrinsic self-efficacies). Similarly, a statistically significant increase of 0.38 points (95% CI 0.06-0.70) from 5.94 points at baseline in motivation to quit was found at the end of the study. Gender, age, and nicotine dependence were not statistically significantly associated with changes in self-efficacy and motivation to quit.
The assessed mobile apps positively impacted the self-efficacy and motivation to quit of smokers making quit attempts. This has important implications on the possible future use of digitalized interventions and how they could influence important psychological factors for quitting such as self-efficacy and motivation. However, further research is needed to assess whether digital interventions can supplement or replace traditional forms of therapy.
面对面支持的人数呈下降趋势，这使得正在戒烟的吸烟者在治疗选择方面存在显著差距。面对面的行为支持和其他干预措施试图针对吸烟者的自我效能和戒烟动机等心理因素，因为这些因素与戒烟尝试的可能性增加和成功戒烟有关。尽管戒烟移动应用等数字干预措施可能为弥补日益扩大的治疗差距提供了有希望的途径，但对于这些应用对戒烟至关重要的心理因素的影响知之甚少。
本研究旨在更好地了解戒烟移动应用对成功戒烟的重要因素（如自我效能和戒烟动机）的可能影响。我们的目的是评估吸烟者在使用戒烟移动应用前后的自我效能和戒烟动机水平。
招募希望戒烟的吸烟者参加为期 4 周的基于应用程序的研究。经过筛选，符合条件的参与者被要求使用移动应用程序（Kwit 或 Quit Genius）。使用吸烟自我效能问卷和戒烟动机量表分别测量自我效能和戒烟动机。这两个量表均在基线（使用应用程序前）、中期（使用应用程序 2 周后）和末期（使用应用程序 4 周后）进行评估。配对样本双侧 t 检验用于研究研究时间点之间自我效能和戒烟动机的差异是否具有统计学意义。线性回归模型调查了应用程序使用前后自我效能变化与戒烟动机变化之间的关联，包括年龄、性别和尼古丁依赖。
共有 116 名参与者完成了研究，其中大多数为男性（71/116，61.2%）、在职（76/116，65.6%）、单身（77/116，66.4%）和高学历（87/116，75.0%）。大多数参与者尼古丁依赖程度较低或中度（107/116，92.2%）。研究结束时，自我效能从基线时的 37.38 分显著增加了 5.09 分（95%置信区间 1.83-8.34）。自我效能的子成分（内在和外在自我效能）也有统计学意义的增加。同样，在研究结束时，戒烟动机从基线时的 5.94 分显著增加了 0.38 分（95%置信区间 0.06-0.70）。性别、年龄和尼古丁依赖与自我效能和戒烟动机的变化没有统计学显著关联。
评估的移动应用程序对尝试戒烟的吸烟者的自我效能和戒烟动机产生了积极影响。这对未来数字干预措施的可能应用以及它们如何影响自我效能和动机等重要心理因素有重要意义。然而，仍需要进一步研究以评估数字干预措施是否可以补充或替代传统形式的治疗。
