Feasibility of Promoting Smoking Cessation Among Methadone Users Using Multimedia Computer-Assisted Education

Abstract

Background The prevalence of smoking is very high among methadone users. As a method of delivering health education, computers can be utilized effectively. However computer-assisted education in methadone users has not been evaluated systematically. Objective This study was aimed at assessing feasibility and patient acceptance of an interactive educational module of a multi-component smoking cessation counseling computer program for former illicit drug users treated in an outpatient methadone clinic.Methods The computer-mediated education for hazards of smoking utilized in this study was driven by major constructs of adult learning theories. The program interface was tailored to individuals with minimal computer experience and was implemented on a touch screen tablet PC. The number of consecutive methadone-treated current smokers enrolled in the study was 35. After providing socio-demographic and smoking profiles, the patients were asked to use the educational program for 40 minutes. The impact of the computer-mediated education was assessed by administering a pre- and post-intervention Hazards of Smoking Knowledge Survey (HSKS). An attitudinal survey and semi-structured qualitative interview were used after the educational session to assess the opinions of participants about their educational experience.Results The computer-mediated education resulted in significant increase of HSKS scores from 60.5 ± 16.3 to 70.4 ± 11.7 with t value 3.69 and P < .001. The majority of the patients (78.8%) felt the tablet PC was easy to use, and most of the patients (91.4%) rated the educational experience as good or excellent. After controlling for patient baseline characteristics, the effect of computer-mediated education remained statistically significant.Conclusions Computer-assisted education using tablet PCs was feasible, well-accepted, and an effective means of providing hazards of smoking education among methadone users.

Interactive mobile system for smoking cessation

“…Our results are supported by previous reports which demonstrated potential of interactive education about hazards of smoking [7][8]. Previous studies also showed high acceptance of mobile devices for interactive health education [9][10][11].…”

“…2. Computer-assisted education on hazards of smoking in current smokers has been previously described [7]. It was shown to significantly increase smokers understanding of health risks associated with smoking.…”

Development and Validation of an Online Interactive, Multimedia Wound Care Algorithms Program

“…29,37,38 Patient-focused education in various topics for health care professionals and Internet-based health or wound care information for patients are also available. [39][40][41][42] Web-based information has been used to manage patients' chronic wounds via clinical practice guidelines or protocols, and via telemedicine consultations. [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] HasfieldWolfe and Rund 33 used a digital survey to assess staff development needs related to wound care, specifically malignant cutaneous wounds.…”

Mobile eLearning Platform for Interactive Patient Education

“…In our previous studies we showed that interactive patient education could be successfully delivered via Internet, PDA, tablet PC and touch-screen kiosks [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. In all these studies we used Computerassisted Education (CO-ED) system as an authoring platform for interactive self-paced multim d y adult learning theories [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”