Smokers’ user experience of smoking cessation apps: A systematic review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Smokers’ user experience of smoking cessation apps

T2 - A systematic review

AU - Zhang, Mengying

AU - Wolters, Maria

AU - O'Connor, Siobhán

AU - Wang, Yajing

AU - Doi, Lawrence

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to acknowledge Rowena Stewart, the librarian at the School of Health in Social Science, The University of Edinburgh for her assistance with the search strategy. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Objectives: To explore how smokers view common functions and characteristics of smoking cessation apps. Design: Systematic review. Search sources: CINAHL PLUS, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar. Review methods: Seven digital databases were searched separately using relevant search terms. Search results were uploaded to Covidence. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified with the expert team in advance. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened by two reviewers independently. Any disagreements were discussed in research meetings. Pertinent data were extracted and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings were presented in a narrative approach. Results: 28 studies were included in this review. The overarching themes were app functionality and app characteristics. Under app “functionality”, six subthemes emerged: 1) education; 2) tracking; 3) social support; 4) compensation; 5) distraction, and 6) reminding. Under “app characteristics”, five subthemes emerged: 1) simplification, 2) personalisation, 3) diverse content forms, 4) interactivity, and 5) privacy and security. Conclusion: Understanding user needs and expectations is crucial for developing a programme theory for smoking cessation app interventions. Relevant needs identified in this review should be linked to broader theories of smoking cessation and app-based intervention.

AB - Objectives: To explore how smokers view common functions and characteristics of smoking cessation apps. Design: Systematic review. Search sources: CINAHL PLUS, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar. Review methods: Seven digital databases were searched separately using relevant search terms. Search results were uploaded to Covidence. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified with the expert team in advance. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened by two reviewers independently. Any disagreements were discussed in research meetings. Pertinent data were extracted and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings were presented in a narrative approach. Results: 28 studies were included in this review. The overarching themes were app functionality and app characteristics. Under app “functionality”, six subthemes emerged: 1) education; 2) tracking; 3) social support; 4) compensation; 5) distraction, and 6) reminding. Under “app characteristics”, five subthemes emerged: 1) simplification, 2) personalisation, 3) diverse content forms, 4) interactivity, and 5) privacy and security. Conclusion: Understanding user needs and expectations is crucial for developing a programme theory for smoking cessation app interventions. Relevant needs identified in this review should be linked to broader theories of smoking cessation and app-based intervention.

KW - mHealth

KW - Mobile app

KW - Smoker

KW - Smoking cessation

KW - User experience

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85152908452

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105069

DO - 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105069

M3 - Review article

C2 - 37084673

AN - SCOPUS:85152908452

SN - 1386-5056

VL - 175

JO - International Journal of Medical Informatics

JF - International Journal of Medical Informatics

M1 - 105069

ER -