Using Technology to Help Low-income and Latino Smokers Quit
Condition: Smoking Cessation
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health) at Palo Alto
      University proposes to develop digital tools specifically designed to help low income
      English-speaking and Spanish-speaking smokers to quit. The investigators aim to test whether
      a mobile-based digital intervention designed with systematic input from low-income English-
      and Spanish-speaking smokers from a public sector health care system can significantly
      improve its acceptability, utilization, and effectiveness. Using human-centered development
      methods, the project will involve low-income patients of the San Francisco Health Network in
      the design of a web app/text messaging tool. The investigators will also use participants
      input to improve the recruitment and dissemination strategies. i4Health will join forces with
      the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) at Northwestern University to
      iteratively develop successive versions of the digital interventions informed by our
      human-centered approach.

      The full study involves 4 successive outcome studies testing the effectiveness of the Stop
      Smoking San Francisco web app.

      The first three are single-group non-randomized pre-post studies with 1, 2, and 3-month
      follow-ups. These will test gradually improved versions of the app.

      The fourth study will involve a randomized trial comparing the initial version (the baseline
      version) of the web app to the final version of the web app, to determine if the final
      version is significantly better than the baseline version in terms of increased utilization
      and abstinence rates.

      To join this study, go to: https://stopsmokingsf.org
    

Detailed description: 
      The project involves three specific aims:

      Specific Aim #1: Human-centered development of an English/Spanish smoking cessation web app.
      The investigators will develop iterative versions of a digital smoking cessation tool (a web
      app with text messaging components) that is highly responsive to the needs and preferences of
      low-income English- and Spanish-speaking smokers. Development will take place with systematic
      input from patients who are part of the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN). The SFHN serves
      70,000 members, most of whom are low-income individuals.

      Specific Aim #2: Improvement of dissemination strategies. Input from SFHN patients will
      identify effective ways of reaching and encouraging low-income English- and Spanish-speaking
      smokers to use the digital smoking cessation interventions to be developed. This information
      will support ongoing dissemination and implementation efforts beyond the grant period.

      Specific Aim #3: Evaluation of resulting smoking cessation web app. Researchers will evaluate
      the effectiveness of the successive versions of the resulting stop smoking web app by
      recruiting smokers at two levels: a) within the SFHN, and b) throughout the state of
      California, culminating with an online randomized controlled trial. Increased effectiveness
      will be defined as 1) increased utilization of the web app and 2) higher abstinence rates
      than those obtained by a baseline "usual care" web app.
    

Intervention name(s): Stop Smoking SF Web App - baseline
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Smoking cessation web app in Spanish and English. Accessible online at no charge.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: smoking; stop smoking; tobacco use cessation