NoFumo+: Mobile Health App to quit smoking using Cognitive-behavioral Therapy. (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Despite the rapid growth of mobile health (mHealth) apps for smoking cessation, it is difficult to find any that integrate effective treatments such as those recommended in clinical practice guidelines (CPG) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). OBJECTIVE This paper aims to describe the development of an mHealth app to quit smoking that implements CBT, drawing on the potential of smartphones and complying with the demands of the scientific community and the CPG recommendations. METHODS Creation of a mobile application to quit smoking based on the standards for the development of mHealth apps recommended by the Andalusian Healthcare Quality Agency and the Catalonian ICT Foundation for Social Health. To design the app, a multidisciplinary team was formed (healthcare, research, and IT) that made decisions about the scientific base to be incorporated in developing the techniques and the pilot program with two groups (experts and experimental) to test the app’s usability. RESULTS Pilot study of the app with a group of experts and a clinical group is described. The first group positively evaluates the application and identifies it as easy and intuitive to use. They suggest some changes to improve it, such as incorporating tutorial videos into the texts about the using the app and adding more gamification elements. The experimental group rates the app as easy to understand (100%) and finds it quite useful to have the information available at all times. The mobile health app, called NoFumo+, is available for both operating systems (Android and Apple). Its design includes icons with universal codes, it follows the CPG 5A recommendations, and it incorporates a multi-component CBT program to maintain abstinence from smoking. All of this is accompanied by complementary information, monitoring of the smoking behavior, social support for users, proposals for alternative activities to smoking, and gamification to encourage and reward adherence to the program. CONCLUSIONS No Fumo+ is easily an accessible and useful mHealth, meets the requirements of the scientific community, and implements a multi-component CBT program.