Evaluation of the smoking cessation effects of QuitAction, a smartphone WeChat platform

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Many smokers in China desire to quit, though the success rate among adults is low. This study evaluated the effects of QuitAction, a WeChat smoking cessation platform, summarized the intervention experience of the smoking cessation platform, identified aspects of the platform that necessitated improvement, and provided references for further optimization of the smoking cessation platform. METHODS This single-arm study was conducted in Hunan, China, from September 2020 to October 2021. Regular smokers, who were aged ≥15 years and willing to quit smoking using QuitAction, were recruited. An in-application questionnaire evaluated participants’ baseline smoking status and intention to quit smoking. The QuitAction program included questionnaires regarding the participants’ ongoing smoking cessation status at 24 hours, one week, one month and three months after quitting. The smoking cessation procedure was discontinued if the participant had no intention of continuing. The smoking cessation rate, influencing success factors, frequency of use satisfaction, and helpfulness of QuitAction were recorded. RESULTS A total of 303 participants registered and logged into the QuitAction program, including 59 with incomplete information and 64 with no intention of quitting. The study finally included 180 participants. The smoking cessation rate was 33.9% at 24 hours, 27.2% at one week, 26.1% at one month, and 25.0% at three months. QuitAction was reported as helpful by 94.9% of participants and 95.7% were satisfied with the program. Participants with a quitting difficulty score of 80–100 were less likely to quit smoking than participants with a difficulty score of 0–60 (OR=0.28; 95% CI: 0.10–0.78; p=0.015). Participants using the platform ≥5 times were more likely to quit smoking than those who used the platform <5 times (OR=3.59; 95% CI: 1.51–8.52; p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS The QuitAction platform provides smoking cessation services that can improve smokers’ success rate and improve user experience satisfaction.

Baseline characteristics and the factors influencing successful smoking cessation: A comparison between a WeChat smoking cessation mini-program and an offline smoking cessation clinic

“…In this study, participants with SC difficulty scores of 61-80 and 81-100 had a lower likelihood of successful SC than those with scores of 0-60, and the higher the SC difficulty score, the lower the likelihood of SC success. This finding was similar to the results reported by Xie et al 28 . In another study, the sustained SC rate at 3 months was higher for smokers with difficulty scores of <8.0 (22.1%, 163/737) compared to those with scores ≥8.0 (17.8%, 142/797) 4 .…”

WeChat mini program in laboratory biosafety education among medical students at Guangzhou Medical University: a mixed method study of feasibility and usability

“…In WeChat, mini programs are applications that run inside the app. There are 4.3 million miniprograms on WeChat, with more than 410 million daily users [20]. The convenience and accessibility of the platform make it more likely to be widely used, especially for online learning [19].…”

“…Furthermore, WeChat is a cost-effective tool that can be used by educators to deliver content to students in an interactive and engaging way. To our knowledge, WeChat mini programs mainly focus on healthy lifestyle education, such as reducing smoking [20] and engaging in physical activity [19], with few studies incorporating laboratory biosafety. To address the research gap and limitations of the previous studies, we developed a WeChat mini program, named WeMed, for laboratory biosafety education.…”