Delivering smoking cessation support by mobile phone text message: What information do smokers want? A focus group study

James Jamison, Felix Naughton, Hazel Gilbert, Stephen Sutton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent advances in technology have given rise to novel methods of delivering support to smokers wanting to quit. Mobile phone text messaging permits the delivery of quitting advice at any time, with little effort and at minimal cost. We examined smokers' attitudes toward text messaging as a tool to facilitate smoking cessation as well as preferences for message content and text delivery. Six focus groups were conducted from a total of 24 participants, with additional information obtained via paper questionnaire. Interaction with the text messaging system, tailoring message content and delivery, highlighting the positive effects of quitting, and offering encouragement by text were considered important features of a text support program. Future text messaging interventions may benefit from these findings.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-23
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Applied Biobehavioral Research
Volume18
Issue number1
Early online date8 Mar 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2013

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