clinical trial of smoking cessation mobile phone program

Conditions: Nicotine Addiction; Drug Addiction; Drug Dependence; Substance Use Disorder; Tobacco Dependence

Summary: the sponsor is doing a research study to assess the effects of a smartphone program designed to help users smoke less and eventually quit. when participants join, their involvement in the core study will last 8 weeks. after 8 weeks, they will have the option to continue using the program to guide their quit journey or participate in follow-up research.

the overarching study aim is to recruit and enroll a population of current smokers who are motivated to quit with the assistance of a mobile solution. the core study period will consist of 8 weeks of iphone program usage. comprehensive questionnaires will be given to the user during the course of their application usage. users will receive notifications to link them to these online surveys, which will record their responses in a secure database. following the 8-week core study, participants may continue usage of the program. during the course of their use of the program, participants will be asked to provide information regarding three general areas on a regular basis as part of their use of the app: smoking status, adherence to self or physician-directed quit plans (including but not limited to medications for smoking cessation and over-the-counter quit aids), and overall user satisfaction. one way that the program assesses these areas involves asking users to answer questions addressing whether or not the user used nicotine in the last 24 hours. at the end of each week, users will also be asked to report their cigarette count for each of the past 7 days, using the standardized reporting technique called the timeline followback (tlfb) method assessment (sobell, 1992). at the 16-week mark and at the 24-week mark after enrollment, users will receive a brief questionnaire retrospectively looking at their cigarette usage, adherence to quit aids, and physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * age 18 to 65 * smokes at least 5 cigarettes daily * is interested in quitting in the next 30 days * owns an iphone with ios 8 or higher capabilities * willing and able to receive sms text messages * able to comprehend the english-language and the informed consent form * lives in the united states * provides informed consent to participate in the study * able and willing to comply with study procedures as outlined in the protocol and informed consent form exclusion criteria: * unable or unwilling to provide informed consent * responds appropriately to any item in the eligibility questionnaire: 1. do you smoke at least 5 cigarettes a day? - must say yes 2. are you interested in quitting in the next 30 days? - must say yes 3. do you have access to an apple iphone with ios 8 (or higher) capabilities and internet access? - must say yes 4. are you between 18-65 years old? - must say yes 5. do you currently live in the united states? - must say yes 6. are you currently using a mobile phone-based smoking cessation intervention? - must say no 7. are you willing and able to receive sms messages throughout the study? - must say yes

Keywords: smoking cigarette smoking tobacco smoking nicotine drug addiction tobacco