Mobile Application for Guided Imagery to Address Smoking, Diet and Physical Activity (Imagery)

Tobacco use among women now approaches that of men, with approximately 27 million women smokers in the United States alone. Women report greater difficulties quitting smoking and are more likely to relapse than men. In addition, tobacco use co-varies with poor dietary practices and lack of physical activity, with 92% of smokers reporting at least one other health risk factor. Concerns surrounding weight gain, negative body image, and low self-efficacy, may be key factors affecting smoking cessation among weight-concerned women smokers. Guided imagery has been successfully employed in separate lines of inquiry to address physical activity, diet and smoking cessation. However, guided imagery has not been employed to target weight concerned women who smoke or to simultaneously target smoking, diet, and exercise behavior in a single intervention. The proposed study would be the first of its kind to create a theory-based, guided imagery intervention to assist weight-concerned women smokers to quit. The use of a mobile app offers an innovative approach to addressing the multiple behaviors involved in smoking cessation efforts of weight-concerned women, and has the potential to reach large numbers of women smokers. The project aims to develop and test the feasibility of a mobile health application using guided imagery in order to increase smoking cessation among a population of weight-concerned women smokers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Smoking Cessation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: See Me Smoke-Free; Device: Smart phone

Detailed Description

SPECIFIC AIMS Tobacco use among women now approaches that of men, with approximately 27 million women smokers in the United States alone. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women, and more than 180,000 women die of other illnesses linked to smoking annually. Women report greater difficulties quitting smoking and are more likely to relapse than men. In addition, tobacco use co-varies with poor dietary practices and lack of physical activity, with 92% of smokers reporting at least one other health risk factor. The presence of multiple behavioral risk factors greatly increases the risk of developing many acute and chronic conditions.

Concerns about weight gain, negative body image, and lack of self-efficacy may be key factors affecting smoking, diet, and exercise behavior of women. Women smokers are less satisfied with their bodies, have lower self-esteem, and are more concerned about becoming overweight than non-smokers. Approximately 50% of women smokers report that concerns about body weight are reasons they do not quit. Research indicates that women report lower self-efficacy in quitting than men, especially women concerned about controlling their weight. These findings suggest that targeting weight concerns, body image, and self-efficacy to quit with weight-concerned women who smoke may be an effective intervention strategy. Recent studies suggest that a multi-behavioral approach, including diet and physical activity, may be more effective at helping weight-concerned smokers to quit.

One cognitive approach, guided imagery, has been successfully employed in separate lines of inquiry to address body image concerns and self-efficacy in our three target behaviors-exercise, diet and smoking cessation. However, guided imagery has not been employed to target weight concerned women who smoke or to simultaneously target smoking, diet, and exercise behavior in a single intervention. The proposed study would be the first of its kind to create a theory-based, guided imagery intervention to assist weight-concerned women smokers to quit.

While imagery is an effective therapeutic tool for behavior change, the mode of delivery has generally been in-person, limiting the dissemination of guided imagery-based interventions to large populations. Mobile health applications (mobile apps) delivered via smart phones offer a unique channel through which to distribute imagery-based interventions. Mobile apps may enhance the use of guided imagery through the use of audio files. The app may allow guided imagery scripts to be tailored by the user, and flexibly administered at varying times (e.g., during nicotine cravings). This approach could be especially useful for women, who are more likely than men to use the Internet to obtain health information. The use of a mobile app offers an innovative approach to addressing the multiple behaviors involved in smoking cessation efforts of weight-concerned women, and has the potential to reach large numbers of women smokers. If successful, a mobile application for guided imagery could be used to address other health behaviors as well. The present project aims to develop and test the feasibility of a mobile health application using guided imagery in order to increase smoking cessation among weight-concerned women smokers.

The Specific Aims for this study are to:

Aim 1. Develop guided imagery content, user interface, and resources to reduce weight concern, and increase body image and self-efficacy for behavior change among weight-concerned women smokers. Scripts incorporating imagery across these domains will be developed specifically for smoking cessation, eating a healthy diet and engaging in physical activity. The investigators will develop initial content and user interface ideas based on experience in using guided imagery for increasing physical activity, and using technology to assist tobacco cessation and healthy eating. Ten focus group participants (weight-concerned women smokers who own a smart phone, representing various racial/ethnic groups) will provide feedback on content, potential tailoring of content by race/ethnicity, functions, and design, which will inform development of the mobile app.

Aim 2. Program a prototype of the app that contains all the necessary elements of text, graphics, multimedia and interactive features. Users will be able to customize certain elements of the application, and be required to provide input in response to app prompts. The investigators will conduct usability testing, observing 10 participants using "think aloud" procedures as they interact with the app, to ensure that it is fully functional and easy to use.

Aim 3. Evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the app with 50 weight-concerned women smokers. The primary outcome will be self-reported tobacco abstinence at 3 months post-enrollment. The investigators will also measure: dietary intake; level of physical activity; body image; self-efficacy; cravings; and participants' use of the app, including the imagery scripts, diary, and resource links.

The potential impact of this proposed intervention is great, because it addresses behavioral risk factors that can be applied to populations beyond smokers. This proposal is significant because it intervenes with women smokers; innovative, in that it uses guided imagery to change lifestyle behaviors important for the prevention of chronic diseases, and, technology to maximize dissemination potential. The proposed investigation takes a theory-based approach, builds on the considerable track records of the investigators, and will be conducted in an environment highly suited for this study. Results of this study will be used to prepare for a future randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a multi-behavioral, guided imagery mobile health application versus a single smoking cessation imagery mobile health application.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 166
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria include the following:

• Must be female
• Report smoking in the past 30 days
• Use an Android cell phone
• Have a valid email address
• Have a valid phone number
• Speak English

Exclusion Criteria including the following:

• Male
• Not a current smoker
• Do not use an Android cell phone
• Do not have a valid email address
• Do not have a valid phone number
• Do not speak English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: See Me Smoke-Free; Participants received access to the See Me Smoke-Free mobile application (app) delivered via smart phone, and were asked to use the app "most days" for 30 days post-enrollment. The app contained five guided imagery audio files (Introduction to Guided Imagery, Be Smoke Free, Eat Well, Get Active, and Feel Fantastic), a tracking calendar, awards, resources, reminders, and tips and techniques.

Behavioral: See Me Smoke-Free; See Me Smoke-Free is a multi-behavioral mobile application focusing on increasing smoking cessation, healthy eating, and moderate to intense physical activity. The app tracks the participant's quit date, and eating/physical activity goals. Participants have access to guided imagery audio files that they are instructed to listen to every day for at least 30 days. Participants can earn awards for meeting the study goals.; Device: Smart phone; See Me Smoke-Free mHealth app delivered via a smart phone

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants Reporting Smoking Abstinence	Self-reported smoking abstinence will be collected via online questionnaire at 3-months post-enrollment.	3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Weekly Minutes of Exercise	Self-reported level of moderate to strenuous physical activity will be collected via online questionnaire at 3-months post-enrollment.	3 months
Servings of Fruit Per Day	Self-reported consumption of servings of fruits per day will be collected via online questionnaire at 3-months post-enrollment.	3 months
Minutes of Guided Imagery Use Per Day	Interaction with the mHealth app will be measured automatically and unobtrusively by the app on an on-going basis. The app will collect the number of minutes per day that the guided imagery audio files are listened to.	Collected throughout each day for up to 90 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Arizona
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI); West Virginia University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Giacobbi P Jr, Hingle M, Johnson T, Cunningham JK, Armin J, Gordon JS. See Me Smoke-Free: Protocol for a Research Study to Develop and Test the Feasibility of an mHealth App for Women to Address Smoking, Diet, and Physical Activity. JMIR Res Protoc. 2016 Jan 21;5(1):e12. doi: 10.2196/resprot.5126.
• Armin J.S., Cunningham J.K., Giacobbi P., Hingle M., Johnson T., & Gordon J.S. (2016). Development of a Multibehavioral mHealth app for Women Smokers. Journal of Health Communication. DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2016.1256454.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: January 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 16, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 21, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): November 23, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 19, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 27, 2018
• Last Verified: November 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Smoking; Smoking cessation; mHealth; Mobile Application; Multiple behaviors
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1R21CA174639 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO