If you're considering quitting smoking, new research suggests that anti-smoking smartphone apps designed for iPhones and Androids "lack basic strategies" known to help users quit and may therefore not be so useful.
"Quit-smoking apps are an increasingly available tool for smokers," lead author Lorien Abroms, ScD, an associate professor of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS), said in a press release. "Yet our study suggests these apps have a long way to go to comply with practices that we know can help people stub out that last cigarette."
Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, "A Content Analysis of Popular Smartphone Apps for Smoking Cessation" features data collected by a team led by Abroms and J. Lee Westmaas, PhD at the American Cancer Society. The researchers identified 414 apps for iPhones and Androids designed to help people quit smoking and analyzed 50 of the most popular for each operating system.
Using guidelines established by the U.S. Public Health Service on treating tobacco use, the team examined each app's approach to helping users quit, and found that from a clinical standpoint, none of the apps offered the best treatment options.
None of them, for instance, offered a toll free "quit line" that connects users to public health counselors, and less than 20 apps recommended that users try medication to help them quit, despite the fact that ample evidence supports nicotine replacement therapy as a "highly effective tool, especially when used in conjunction with a quit-line." In addition, the majority of apps analyzed lacked basic advice on how to quit and did not offer assistance in setting up a quit plan, according to the study authors.
As the study had limitations, as the researchers did not know whether the apps were being used in conjunction with other smoking cessation methods, they conclude that people should use anti-smoking apps with caution and not as a stand-alone method.
"They should simply pick up their smartphone and call a quit-line now to get proven help on how to beat a tobacco addiction," Abroms suggested.
