New Delhi: Struggling to quit smoking? Researchers from the UK have created a mobile app designed to detect potential triggers for smoking, such as time and location, with the aim of assisting you in quitting the habit.
The University of East Anglia has developed Quit Sense, the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) stop-smoking app, which has the ability to detect when users are entering locations where they used to smoke.
The app, Quit Sense, offers support to users by helping them manage their specific smoking triggers in identified locations.
The research team aims to assist smokers in quitting by providing effective tools to manage trigger situations through this innovative app.
Research has shown that quit attempts often fail due to triggers associated with spending time in places where people used to smoke, such as pubs or workplaces.
Lead researcher Professor Felix Naughton from UEA’s School of Health Sciences highlighted that apart from medication, there are currently no existing methods to provide support in managing situations and urges for smokers in real-time.
This underscores the significance of the Quit Sense app in addressing this gap.
Dr. Chloe Siegele-Brown, who developed the Quit Sense app at the University of Cambridge, explained that the app utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to learn from past smoking events, including times, locations, and triggers, in order to provide real-time messages to users and help them manage urges to smoke effectively.
A randomized controlled trial was conducted by the research team, involving 209 smokers recruited through social media.
Participants were sent links by text message to access their assigned treatment, with all participants receiving a link to NHS online stop-smoking support.
However, only half of the participants also received the Quit Sense app as an additional intervention.
After six months, the participants were requested to complete follow-up measures online.
Those who reported quitting smoking were further asked to mail back a saliva sample to verify their abstinence.
The results, published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, revealed that participants who were offered the Quit Sense app in addition to online NHS support were four times more likely to quit smoking after six months, compared to those who only received online NHS support.
However, it’s worth noting that a limitation of this study was that less than half of the participants who reported quitting smoking returned a saliva sample for verification.
Therefore, further research is needed to obtain a more accurate estimate of the effectiveness of the Quit Sense app, according to the research team.
