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(CNN) – If you are trying to quit smoking, it may help to recognize and accept your cravings instead of avoiding them.
And downloading a smartphone app that takes that approach could increase your chances of success, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“The problem is that when you try to avoid what you feel and what you think, you paradoxically believe more than what you are trying to avoid,” said Jonathan Bricker, lead author of the new study and professor of the cancer prevention program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer. Research Center in Seattle.
That behavior change approach could be beneficial to more than one in 10 Americans who smoke.
However, a shortcoming of this technology-driven approach is that it requires people trying to quit smoking to have a smartphone and a working phone line, according to Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor of medicine at the School of Medicine. Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and a volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association. He was not involved in the study.
“I need primary care physicians to be aware of the availability of this type of product,” he said. However, this should be a supplement (to medical care), not a replacement. “
Most of his patients are black, he noted, and the median annual income for those in his surrounding community is about $ 15,000. Galiatsatos directs the Tobacco Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Although tobacco smoking has fallen to record lows, 34 million Americans still smoke, according to Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General, which was published earlier this year.
Beyond showing that an acceptance-based plan could help people quit smoking in the long term, Bricker and his team wanted to show that tracking their progress in a digital app was practically helpful. About 490 smoking cessation apps have been downloaded up to 33 million times, according to data from SensorTower.com.
However, data on its efficacy are limited. So Bricker and his team took a closer look.
They developed a randomized clinical trial that compared smokers using two different apps designed to help people break the habit.
The app that helped people accept, rather than avoid, cravings was 50% more effective, the researchers found.
Facing your triggers
The study team recruited 2,415 adult cigarette smokers, dividing them into two groups. In the first cohort, participants used iCanQuit, an app the researchers developed based on acceptance and commitment therapy that teaches acceptance of smoking triggers. The goal of this approach is to stop smoking by appealing to one’s own values and encouraging the user to allow the urge to smoke to pass without acting on it.
In the second group, smokers used the National Cancer Institute’s QuitGuide, an app designed to help people quit smoking by avoiding the triggers that lead people to smoke. The NCI app is based on the US Clinical Practice Guidelines for Smoking Cessation, which motivate people to quit with logic and reason.
The researchers followed the participants several times between May 2017 and September 2018.
Those who used the iCanQuit app were 1.49 times more likely to quit smoking compared to those who used the QuitGuide app.
After users download the iCanQuit app, they set a date when they would like to quit smoking and then follow the guidance of the app’s virtual trainer, who helps them become more aware of the specific personal stressors that trigger their cravings. tobacco.
By accepting the existence of cravings rather than trying to eliminate them, the app and its underlying focus facilitate the tug of war many have with their desire for a cigarette.
“You let go of the rope,” Bricker said.
His team concluded that of every 100,000 smokers who start the iCanQuit app, 28,000 of them would successfully quit.
“This elevates applications as an effective way to quit smoking,” said Bricker. “Up to this point, there just wasn’t much data on whether the apps worked.
More than one way to quit smoking
This new study on smoking cessation apps adds to existing research on ways to quit smoking.
And one successful way to help people quit was by creating a financial incentive. An earlier study published in the New England Journal of Medicine made people deposit $ 150; participants received that money, plus $ 650, if they successfully quit smoking. More than half were able to quit smoking, provided they also had access to tips on how to quit smoking along with nicotine replacements like gum or a patch.
Love could also be a powerful driver, found a 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Half of the men and women in the study were able to quit smoking if their partner did it with them. On the other hand, only 8% of men’s quitting attempts were successful if their partner didn’t stop.
Nicotine replacement therapy, such as inhalers, nasal sprays, lozenges, and gum, can add considerable weight to smoking cessation efforts. A 2018 review of 150 different tests of such methods showed that these therapies could improve the chance of quitting by between 50% and 70%.
Smokers left behind
“This study is applicable to helping people quit smoking and helping people maintain abstinence,” said Johns Hopkins’ Galiatsatos. “If you want to help people quit smoking, it’s not about prescribing and quitting.”
He praised the study for having a large sample size and for using a chronic care model, and for the long time the researchers monitored the participants to make sure they really quit their habit.
Galiatsatos, however, explained that many of his low-income patients have trouble using the services of the smoking cessation line because they do not have a reliable and consistent phone line.
Coming from a lower socioeconomic background, many smokers do not have the resources and support to allow them to quit completely.
“Many of the populations that smoke are the ones with health disparities,” he said.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “Quitting Apps That Help You Recognize Your Triggers Works Better, Study Shows”
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