The Effect of a Mobile Phone Application on Smoking Cessation

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether these applications are effective in quitting smoking by using one of the smartphone applications in addition to motivational interviewing in patients who applied for giving up smoking. Methods: A randomized controlled intervention study was between January and July 2020. Adults aged 18-65 years who smoke at least one cigarette a day were included in the study. In the prospective study, the patients were followed for 6 months and a total of ten interviews were made. A phone application was installed on the intervention group. Afterwards, the smoking status of the patients was evaluated by telephone or face-to-face. Results: Sixty-three smokers participated in the study. Fifty patients completed the study, 25 controls and 25 interventions. Long-term smoking cessation findings at the first, third and sixth months were evaluated for both groups. Of the patients, 64% in the intervention group and 32% of the patients in the control group quit smoking at the end of the first month. The success of quitting at the end of the first month was found to be statistically more significant in the intervention group than in the control group (p=0.024). Patients who did not continue smoking at the end of the sixth month were 44% in the intervention group and 24% in the control group, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Of the 50 patients, 16 had never smoked for six months. Conclusions: The smartphone mobile-application showed a positive effect in promoting the increase in the smoking quitting rate. The intervention was found to be effective in 30-day smoking cessation success. Despite higher smoking quitting rates at 3 and 6 months, the application was not effective.