iPhone quit-smoking apps don't make the grade
A new study finds that iPhone software applications designed to help people quit smoking fall short of the mark because they do not meet accepted standards, according to a report from Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health. The study appears online and in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Among other things, the study found that the 47 apps reviewed rarely helped users get assistance through counseling, hotlines, or anti-smoking medications. About half of the apps supported hypnosis, which has questionable effectiveness.
"They were pretty poor. There wasn't one I thought I could recommend to a smoker," said study lead author Lorien Abroms, ScD, a professor of health communication and marketing at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, DC.
Even so, apps do hold potential to be a valuable tool to help people stop smoking, Abroms said. Researchers already have shown that text messages provide helpful motivation to people who are trying to quit, and she believes smartphones might be even more useful because they are capable of providing a fuller multimedia experience. "You've got a great tool in your pocket," Abroms said.
The iPhone apps reviewed by Abroms and colleagues, including free and paid applications that were available in 2009, did not make the grade, although they did some of the right things. "They'd give you personalized motivation, and at least a quarter of them would ask you how much you smoke and when you plan to quit, and then they'd give you personalized feedback about the money you'd save and what you'd gain," she said. "What they did terribly is that they didn't recommend or refer to a quitline."
Also, Abroms said, "on the whole, they didn't mention using nicotine replacement therapy, which has been proven to help people quit smoking. And very few apps helped you to get social support or reminded you to get it, which is also crucial to quitting smoking."
About half of the apps in the study embraced hypnosis, she said. There is no evidence that hypnosis helps people quit smoking, Abroms said.
The study findings make sense because they focus on the availability of proven techniques, said Frances Stillman, EdD, EdM, an associate professor of health, behavior, and society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Stillman believes that behavioral therapy, along with anti-smoking medications when necessary, is the ideal approach to smoking cessation, although "it's not a one-size-fits-all thing."
It is important to connect people to the right resources, she said, "understanding that it may take them a number of tries before they finally quit for good."
What's next for apps? Abroms said the Legacy Foundation, which advocates against smoking, has released a promising iPhone app. She said she hopes other public health groups will follow.
A new study finds that iPhone software applications designed to help people quit smoking fall short of the mark because they do not meet accepted standards, according to a report from Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health. The study appears online and in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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