Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States.
ICF, Reston, VA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2024 Oct 11;8:e58221. doi: 10.2196/58221.
The use of mobile technologies to deliver behavioral health interventions, including smoking cessation support, has grown. Users' perceptions are important determinants of the adoption and use of new technologies. However, little is known about users' perceptions of mobile technologies as smoking cessation aids, particularly among disadvantaged individuals who smoke.
This study aimed to examine the acceptance of mobile technologies for smoking cessation among young adults with low socioeconomic status who smoke.
In total, 38 current cigarette smokers, 18 to 29 years old, who wanted to quit and did not have a 4-year college degree nor were enrolled in a 4-year college, participated in 12 semistructured digital focus groups. The moderation guide was guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Discussions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded for the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology constructs (ie, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, and social influence), sentiment (ie, negative, neutral, and positive), and purpose of using mobile technologies (ie, lifestyle and health management and smoking cessation) following a deductive thematic analysis approach.
Participants had positive experiences using mobile technologies for lifestyle and health management, primarily for fitness and dietary purposes. Salient themes were facilitating conditions of use (44/80, 55%), with prior experiences and costs subthemes, followed by perceived usefulness of mobile technologies in helping users attain health goals (22/80, 27.50%), which were generally positive. Ease of use (11/80, 13.75%) and social influences (3/80, 3.75%) were minimally discussed. Conversely, participants had limited awareness of smoking cessation uses of mobile technologies, which was the primary barrier under facilitating conditions discussed (33/51, 64.70%). Participants expressed skepticism about the usefulness of mobile technologies in helping them quit smoking (14/51, 27.45%). Effort expectancy was not discussed, given participants' limited prior use. Social influences on mobile technology use for smoking cessation were minimally discussed (4/51, 7.84%).
The use of mobile technologies for smoking cessation was unknown to young adults with low socioeconomic status who smoke. To reduce cigarette smoking and associated health disparities, increasing awareness and use of evidence-based mobile-based smoking cessation interventions are needed. Smoking cessation interventions should incorporate features perceived as useful and easy to use to capitalize on positive user experiences and the acceptability of mobile technologies for lifestyle and health management.
使用移动技术提供行为健康干预措施，包括戒烟支持，已经越来越多。用户的认知是决定新科技采用和使用的重要因素。然而，人们对移动技术作为戒烟辅助手段的认知知之甚少，尤其是在吸烟的经济地位较低的弱势群体中。
本研究旨在调查经济地位较低的年轻吸烟成年人对移动技术戒烟的接受程度。
共有 38 名年龄在 18 至 29 岁之间、想戒烟且没有四年制大学学位或未就读四年制大学的当前吸烟者参加了 12 次半结构化数字焦点小组。讨论的调节指南以接受和使用技术的统一理论为指导（即努力预期、促进条件、绩效预期和社会影响），情绪（即负面、中性和积极），以及使用移动技术的目的（即生活方式和健康管理和戒烟），遵循演绎主题分析方法。
参与者对使用移动技术进行生活方式和健康管理有积极的体验，主要用于健身和饮食目的。突出的主题是使用的促进条件（44/80，55%），包括先前的经验和成本子主题，其次是移动技术在帮助用户实现健康目标方面的感知有用性（22/80，27.50%），这通常是积极的。易用性（11/80，13.75%）和社会影响（3/80，3.75%）讨论得很少。相反，参与者对移动技术在戒烟方面的使用知之甚少，这是促进条件下讨论的主要障碍（33/51，64.70%）。参与者对移动技术在帮助他们戒烟方面的有用性表示怀疑（14/51，27.45%）。由于参与者先前使用的经验有限，因此没有讨论努力预期。移动技术在戒烟方面的社会影响也很少被讨论（4/51，7.84%）。
经济地位较低的吸烟年轻人对移动技术用于戒烟知之甚少。为了减少吸烟和相关的健康差距，需要增加对基于证据的基于移动的戒烟干预措施的认识和使用。戒烟干预措施应纳入被认为有用和易于使用的功能，以利用积极的用户体验和移动技术在生活方式和健康管理方面的可接受性。
