WASHINGTON — Technology in smartwatches could help people quit smoking, according to researchers who have developed an app which intervenes when movements indicating cigarette use are detected.
The team at the University of Bristol created software that uses motion sensors on an Android smartwatch to identify the typical hand movements of smoking.
Once detected, the app delivers a vibration alert with a text message designed by smokers and former smokers, offering support about stopping smoking onto the smartwatch screen.
One message reads “Stopping smoking lets you breathe more easily.. Quitting is good”, while others contain a tally of how many cigarettes smoked and the total number of drags taken that day.
After reading the message, participants can swipe it away or press a button to display information about accessing the NHS smoking cessation support pages online.
Chris Stone, of the University of Bristol’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said: “For those who are trying to give up, an initial lapse is a vulnerable moment, and risks leading to a full relapse to smoking.
“People like smartwatches. They like the idea of it delivering a message at the point that they smoke.
“Therefore, if we can identify this point of lapse, and deliver an intervention precisely at that point, we have an opportunity to improve the success of the quit attempt.
“In carrying out this project, we have aimed to harness the latest thinking in intervention design, and deliver it in a convenient wearable package with minimal burden to the user and maximum engagement with behaviour change; and in doing so, make a difference to people’s lives.”
In the study, published in JMIR Formative Research, the smartwatch app was tested on 18 people who were interested in quitting smoking.
They wore a Ticwatch loaded with the custom app for two weeks, from the moment they woke up until they went to bed when they were instructed to charge it overnight.
The participants were also advised to remove the smartwatch while showering, swimming, or performing any activities that might damage it such as contact sports.
At the end of the two-week period, they sent the watch back and completed a questionnaire consisting of 27 questions.
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