[Effectiveness of a multicomponent smoking cessation intervention in primary care]

NoFumo+: Mobile Health App to Quit Smoking Using Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

This paper describes the development and test of a smartphone application to quit smoking using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The tool includes recommendations from US Clinical Practice Guidelines (USCPG), drawing on the potential of smartphones and complying with the health App (mHealth) assessment standards. The mHealth created, called NoFumo+, is structured by 4 weeks treatment, implements the USCPG 5A recommendations (ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange) and incorporates a CBT. It also includes complementary information, monitoring of the smoking behavior, social support for users, proposals for alternative activities to smoking, and innovative gamification to encourage and reward adherence. To technical development, a multidisciplinary team was formed (healthcare, research, and software engineers) that made theoretical decisions on both technical issues and the incorporation of therapeutic techniques. The validation was carried out in two phases; the first in the laboratory by a group of experts in information and communication technologies and CBTs (n = 15) and the second, a field study with smokers (n = 10). The standards for the development of mHealth recommended by the Andalusian Healthcare Quality Agency and the App quality evaluation guidelines of the Catalonian ICT Foundation for Social Health were used as assessment protocols by the experts' panel and the smokers' group, respectively. Experts' assessment results were satisfactory and some improving changes were suggested, such as to add more gamification elements. The group of smokers rated the mHealth as 100% easy to use and effective for quit smoking and understandable by the 83.3%. They also found No Fumo + quite useful to have the information available at all times. The obtained evidence after a complete two-phased validation study, with experts and potential users, shows a mHealth with high quality and easy to use. Finally, investigation project registered in ClinicalTrials.gov with reference to this trial is registered with NCT045402004.

[Multicomponent treatment of tobacco in primary care: Follow-up over 5years]

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the effectiveness of a multicomponent treatment for smoking cessation carried out in primary care and to evaluate the evolution of the consumption of tobacco that the people who participated had, more than 5 years after the end of the treatment.

DESIGN

Longitudinal study of 307 participants in a multicomponent program in group format of tobacco cessation.

EMPLACEMENT

Santander (Spain) Primary Care Health Center.

PARTICIPANTS

Smokers from the basic health zone who wanted to quit smoking between 2006 and 2012 and requested help.

INTERVENTIONS

Multicomponent treatment of 5face-to-face sessions and follow-up for up to 12 months.

PRIMARY MEASUREMENTS

The activity was evaluated in 263 participants more than 5years after the end of treatment. The results of continuous and punctual withdrawal were obtained by self-declaration and the data recorded in the medical record. The punctual was also validated with co-oximetry.

RESULTS

After a year 42.7% of participants declared continuous abstinence. From 5 to 12 years later, the continuous declared abstinence further than 12 months was 40.7%. They did not smoke again since the end of the treatment 66 people; 68.0% of those who relapsed made new attempts and 45.5% of them requested help to quit smoking.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed multi-component treatment is effective. Abstinence at 12 months predicts long-term maintenance and participating in disabling groups favors further attempts in case of relapse and the request for help to quit smoking.

NoFumo+: A Clinical Trial of an mHealth for Smoking Cessation with Hospitalized Patients

Smartphone applications (apps) improve accessibility to smoking cessation treatments. The NoFumo+ app administers a cognitive behavioral therapy program for smoking cessation. This study evaluates the efficacy of NoFumo+ for quitting smoking or reducing cigarette consumption versus the usual information-based treatment. A clinical trial was conducted with 99 hospitalized smokers, 54 pseudo-randomly assigned to the app treatment and 45 to the usual treatment. The two groups had homogeneous baseline characteristics to ensure comparability. Abstinence was evaluated at post-treatment (two months) and at a six-month follow-up. The results obtained indicate that participants who receive the usual treatment are 5.40 times more likely to continue smoking than those who undergo the app treatment (95% CI = [1.35; 20.15]). Participants who do not succeed in quitting smoking with the app manage to decrease their habitual consumption. Users who successfully complete treatment with NoFumo+ access all its contents and use the chat, but without requesting professional support. There is not enough empirical evidence to attribute this success to any specific element of the app. NoFumo+ achieves better abstinence rates than the usual information-based treatments, and the goal of generalizing its use to the non-hospitalized smoking population may be achievable in the future.