NCT05991934

Testing the Impact of Smartphone-based Messaging to Support Young Adult Smoking Cessation - Pilot

Testing the Impact of Smartphone-based Messaging to Support Young Adult Smoking Cessation

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 12 (actual)
• Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 30 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation emphasize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help patients develop coping strategies for urges. Mindfulness or Acceptance and commitment Therapy (ACT) offer a different approach, which teaches smokers psychological flexibility through accepting negative experiences. While there is evidence for the efficacy of both CBT and Mindfulness/ACT smoking cessation interventions, it is unclear if these approaches are efficacious when implemented in real-time and with young adults. The overall goal of this proposal is to evaluate the efficacy of CBT and Mindfulness/ACT messages for young adults targeted at specific high-risk situations for smoking.

Detailed description

To conduct a pilot trial to test CBT and Mindfulness/ACT intervention message efficacy for reducing momentary smoking urges (N=10). To inform just-in-time interventions, it is crucial to test if CBT and Mindfulness/ACT based messages can reduce momentary smoking urges. The investigators will conduct a micro-randomized trial (repeated within-subject randomizations of messages) to accomplish this. In line with the investigators' existing protocol, participants first collect Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data for 14 days, allowing the investigators to determine high-risk situations for smoking. In the following intervention phase, participants receive tailored messages triggered by geofencing of participants' high-risk locations for a total of 30 days. Tailoring is based on established predictors of smoking relapse (stress and presence of other smokers). The micro-randomized trial tests the efficacy of CBT versus Mindfulness/ACT versus control messages for reducing smoking urge 15 minutes post message delivery. Secondary outcomes include smoking or other tobacco use (including e-cigarettes), affect, and stress. After 45 days, follow up interviews with participants will be conducted to collect information on their study experience.

Conditions

• Tobacco Cigarette Smoking

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Smartphone-based intervention messages	Intervention messages in the proposed trial will address specific high-risk situations for smoking and smoking urges. Messages will focus on two key situational triggers for message matching: 1. Stress (high/low) and 2. Presence of other smokers (yes/no). For each situation, characterized by a combination of these characteristics, several messages were developed. To improve user engagement with the intervention, all messages contain visual content in form of pictures.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-11-29
• Primary completion: 2024-04-18
• Completion: 2024-04-30
• First posted: 2023-08-15
• Last updated: 2025-05-20
• Results posted: 2025-05-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States