| Summary: | Up to 70% of women who quit smoking relapse after birth, usually within 3 months
postpartum. The wide adoption of mobile technologies, especially smartphones, in
recent years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) offers the possibility
of low-cost, novel, and innovative mobile phone-based interventions for smoking
relapse prevention. This study presents the protocol of the RESPREMO clinical
trial for postnatal smoking relapse prevention for enrolled women, who recently
gave birth and quit tobacco smoking before or during pregnancy, and their life
partners.
This work relies on data collected in two of the largest government-owned
obstetrics and gynecology clinics in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Seventy-five couples
were randomized into one of three groups: a) 24 couples were allocated to the
first intervention group and asked to install and use the xSmoker app; b) 26
couples were randomized to the second intervention group, who, in addition
to the use of the xSmoker app, received text messages with content focused
on motivation, problem solving, and dyadic efficacy; and c) 25 couples were
randomized into a control group.
Several measures of engagement with the xSmoker app were assessed, including
duration of app use, the frequency of utilizing the tool to calculate savings from
quitting, number of app-delivered challenges accepted by users, and number of
app-delivered cessation and abstinence tips.
If effective, RESPREMO is expected to have a sustainable impact on the prevention
of postnatal relapse tobacco smoking with positive effects for both the mother and
the newborn. The implications are beyond tobacco control, and relevant to the
design and implementation of other mHealth behavioral interventions focused
on the pregnancy and reproductive years in general.
|
|---|
