Kathleen Garrison, PhD

Over 30 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes. Smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. It causes about 90 percent of lung cancer cases. Helping people quit smoking is a primary way to improve lung health and prevent lung disease. Although most smokers want to quit, treatments are not widely accessible or available in the moment of need. Using mobile technology can provide new opportunities to deliver smoking treatment in the moment. Smart bands can identify smoking in real time from hand gestures, and this has been shown to help people reduce their smoking. This study will provide an 8-week treatment in which smokers will receive either text-message smoking cessation support alone or text message support with a smart band to help them quit. We will compare smoking behavior and treatment satisfaction at the end of treatment. Findings will identify new ways of improving lung health and preventing lung disease by providing real-time support to quit smoking.

Update:

The clinical trial being conducted at Yale University provides an 8-week smoking treatment in which individuals who smoke cigarettes daily receive either a quit smoking text message program alone or with a smartband to help them quit. The smartband detects the hand gestures of smoking a cigarette and notifies individuals of their smoking in real time, to bring attention to smoking and help reduce smoking. The text message program is the National Cancer Institute’s SmokefreeTXT. Smoking behavior and treatment satisfaction are being compared between groups. Findings will identify new ways of improving lung health and preventing lung disease by providing real-time support to help people quit smoking. Our fully remote and largely automated clinical trial of these digital interventions for smoking has been implemented and enrollment is underway.