Abstract
BackgroundSmoking remains one of the major preventable causes of chronic diseases. Considering the promising evidence on the effectiveness of mobile technology for health behaviour change, along with the increasing adoption of smartphones, this review aims to systematically assess the adherence of popular mobile apps for smoking cessation to evidence-based guidelines.MethodsThe United Kingdom Android and iOS markets were searched in February 2018 to identify smoking cessation apps. After screening, 125 Android and 15 iOS apps were tested independently by two reviewers for adherence to the National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE) Smoking Cessation Guidelines for Self-Help Materials and the Five A Guidelines for Smoking Cessation. Pearson chi square tests were run to examine differences between the two operating systems.ResultsA majority of apps across both operating systems had low adherence (fulfils 1–2 out of 5 guidelines) to the Five A Guidelines (65.7%) and low adherence (fulfils 1–3 out of 9 guidelines) to the NICE Smoking Cessation Guidelines for Self-Help Materials (63.6%). Only 15% of mobile apps provided information about the benefits of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and even fewer provided information regarding types of NRT products (7.1%) or how to use them (2.1%). In addition, only a minority of apps arrange follow-up appointments or provide additional support to help smokers quit.ConclusionSimilar to previous mobile app reviews dating back to 2014, our findings show that most mobile apps do not follow existing smoking cessation treatment guidelines, indicating little change regarding the availability of evidence-based mobile apps for smoking cessation in the UK market. Smokers seeking to quit, tobacco control policy makers and software developers need to work together to develop apps that are in line with the latest clinical guidelines and strategies to maximise effectiveness.
Highlights
In the United Kingdom (UK), smoking prevalence is at an all-time low, smoking remains one of the major preventable causes of chronic diseases [2]
140 mobile apps were evaluated for app functionalities and smoking cessation treatment guidelines
Chi-Square P-Value 0.706 0.380 0.204 0.533 0.001* 0.232 0.773 0.072 < 0.001* 0.035* 0.076 0.999 0.999 0.999 recommended in the guidelines. This finding is consistent with the findings of mobile app reviews conducted outside of the UK market which found low adherence to country-specific smoking cessation guidelines [11,12,13,14] Our study found that most apps available on the UK market allowed users to track the day until and/or since quitting and to calculate the money saved or health benefits accrued since quitting
Summary
Smoking remains one of the major preventable causes of chronic diseases. Considering the promising evidence on the effectiveness of mobile technology for health behaviour change, along with the increasing adoption of smartphones, this review aims to systematically assess the adherence of popular mobile apps for smoking cessation to evidence-based guidelines. In the United Kingdom (UK), smoking prevalence is at an all-time low, smoking remains one of the major preventable causes of chronic diseases [2]. In terms of long-term success, research shows that only 3– 5% of self-quitters remain abstinent after 6–12 months [4]. 400 apps to aid smoking cessation were available in the United States, UK and Australian market in 2015 [5]. With the proliferation of smartphone usage and the booming app markets, this number is likely to have grown
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