Transforming an Evidence-Based Tobacco Cessation into an Integrated mHealth App for Women in Brazil
Silvia Regina de Souza Arrabal Gil, Nádia Kienen, Claudia de Godoi Ferreira de Almeida, Karina Yumi Kawabata de Almeida, Isabel Cristina ScarinciPURPOSE
While women tend smoke less and are more likely to attempt quitting, they are less likely to be successful in their quitting efforts than men. However, there is a paucity of studies on the efficacy of tobacco cessation programs addressing the specific needs and wants of women, particularly in low-resource settings. Purpose: This presentation focuses on the adaptation process of a tobacco cessation intervention delivered via an mHealth application. The app's development was grounded in a culturally relevant, gender-sensitive intervention previously proven efficacious in promoting smoking cessation among women.
METHODS
The development process began with prototyping, followed by content evaluation by health professionals engaged in the tobacco cessation program delivered through the public health system, and prototype testing by researchers, Community Health Workers (CHWs), and end-users. The evaluation phase by CHWs and end-users involved iterative pre-testing with the target audience (N = 3) led by a researcher. Subsequently, a feasibility test was conducted among seven female smokers, facilitated by CHWs. Based on these steps, an integrated mHealth intervention, comprising an interactive app for participants and a monitoring back-end for CHWs, was finalized in collaboration with software developers and designers.
RESULTS
Participants reported high scores for usability, engagement, and satisfaction. Furthermore, they provided positive feedback regarding the app's interactive features, such as gamification elements.
CONCLUSION
Given the scarcity of evidence-based technologies focused on female tobacco cessation, particularly in low-resource settings, and the high costs of tobacco use for health systems, interventions of this nature are both necessary and promising. Despite the positive preliminary findings, further research is required to evaluate the app's efficacy, which is currently being assessed through a group randomized trial.