SP 5: Engineering a Just-In-Time Adaptive Smoking Cessation Intervention using NCI’s QuitGuide Mobile Application

Smoking prevalence remains higher than the national average among young adults, 18-29 years old. Existing mobile-based interventions, that can offer 24/7 access to personalized content, accurate and continuous data recording, and timely feedback, are thus far are unidirectional and generic or minimally tailored to baseline individual-level characteristics of smokers. SP5 is delivering a just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) via the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s QuitGuide smoking cessation mobile application. The intervention provides personalized support to each user in real time. Type of support is stage-matched (e.g., cessation, post-cessation), and timing and frequency of support are based on baseline characteristics (e.g., smoking intensity) and continuous assessment of dynamic individual (e.g., craving) and contextual (e.g., proximity to a tobacco retailer) factors that affect cessation over the course of the intervention. The intervention is harnessing advanced features of mobile phones by integrating carbon monoxide tracking, smoking cues training, and performance-based incentives. SP5 proposes a micro-randomized trial to examine hypothesized main, interaction, mediation, and moderation effects. SP5 will shape a new version of QuitGuide that will be scaled up and released through NCI’s SmokeFree.Gov platform with the potential for high clinical impact.

SP5 is interested in the personalization algorithms proposed by TR&D2, in particular, the use of these stochastic algorithms to determine the randomization probabilities in the MRT. If the TR&D algorithms under Aims 1 and 2 are demonstrated to be robust, SP5 would be interested in including extra participants so to conduct a feasibility study for use in informing SP5’s future research.