Effectiveness of an Offer of the Smoke Free Smartphone Application for Smoking Cessation: Protocol f

Jackson SE, Perski O, Crane D, Michie S, West R, Brown J.
Effectiveness of an Offer of the Smoke Free Smartphone Application for Smoking Cessation: Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial.
Addiction. 2019 May 13. doi: 10.1111/add.14652. [Epub ahead of print]

Smartphone applications (apps) hold promise for delivering tobacco smoking cessation support to large numbers of people at low unit cost. Smoke Free is an evidence-informed, widely-used app that is highly rated by users. This study aims to assess its effectiveness compared with no support. Two-arm individually randomised controlled effectiveness trial. Online trial with no restrictions on location. English-speaking smokers aged ≥18 years willing to make a quit attempt within 4 weeks from initial contact (n=4,990). The primary outcome measure is self-reported 26-week continuous smoking abstinence. Secondary outcome measures include quit attempts in the first 4 weeks post-randomisation, 12-week continuous smoking abstinence, and 26-week continuous smoking abstinence among those who made a quit attempt. If it is effective, the Smoke Free smartphone app is an affordable and widely implementable intervention to help smokers to quit.