Dr. Jonathan B Bricker

Smartphone Apps

for Smoking Cessation

This clinical trial compares a new smoking cessation smartphone application (app) (iCanQuit) to an existing smarphone app (National Cancer Institute \[NCI\] QuitGuide) for helping American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) quit smoking. Compared to other racial/ethnic groups, AIANs have 6 times higher rates of developing smoking-related cancers, including lung cancer. Commercial cigarette smoking accounts for half of all deaths among AIANs nationwide. AIANs' often lack of access to smoking cessation interventions, which may be due to inequities in the healthcare system, lack of health insurance, living in rural areas, systemic racism, and historical trauma. There is also a lack of effective smoking cessation interventions for AIANs. Smartphone apps have the potential to deliver a low-cost smoking cessation intervention with wide reach to AIANs. Apps require no in-person delivery and no provider training, do not require integration into complex hospital systems, can be freely accessed on an app store, and are available at any time and any place. iCanQuit is a behavioral intervention designed to help adults stop smoking by teaching skills for coping with smoking urges, staying motivated, and preventing relapse. The iCanQuit app intervention may be more effective than the currently available NCI QuitGuide app at helping AIANs quit smoking.