Mobile app plus community health worker support to help women quit smoking
Adaptation and Evaluation of a Tobacco Cessation Program: An Integrated mHealth Approach
Seeing if a smartphone app combined with support from community health workers can help low-income women quit smoking.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Alabama at Birmingham NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Birmingham, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11175475 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would get a version of a proven community health worker program that is streamlined with a smartphone app for participants and a tracking system for the workers who help you. The team adapted a previously successful program that nearly doubled quit rates and added app features shown to keep people engaged. Early work focused on making the CHW program less time-consuming and making the app easy to use for low-income women. The project tests feasibility and refines the combined app-plus-CHW approach before larger trials.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Low-income adult women who smoke cigarettes, are served by participating public health clinics, and have access to or can use a cell phone/smartphone.
Not a fit: People who do not smoke, men, or women without access to a smartphone or not connected to the participating clinics are unlikely to benefit from this program.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this combined approach could make quitting easier and more accessible for low-income women by pairing personal support with a mobile app.
How similar studies have performed: A prior R01 of the same community health worker program nearly doubled quit rates (20% vs 11%), and other mHealth smoking programs have shown promise in engaging users, so this builds on proven and promising approaches.
Where this research is happening
Birmingham, United States
- University of Alabama at Birmingham — Birmingham, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Scarinci, Isabel C — University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Study coordinator: Scarinci, Isabel C
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.