A personalized biomedical risk assessment infographic for people who smoke with COPD: a qualitative study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes 3 million deaths each year, yet 38% of COPD patients continue to smoke. Despite proof of effectiveness and universal guideline recommendations, smoking cessation interventions are underused in practice. We sought to develop an infographic featuring personalized biomedical risk assessment through future lung function decline prediction (with vs without ongoing smoking) to both prompt and enhance clinician delivery of smoking cessation advice and pharmacotherapy, and augment patient motivation to quit.

We recruited patients with COPD and pulmonologists from a quaternary care center in Toronto, Canada. Infographic prototype content and design was based on best evidence. After face validation, the prototype was optimized through rapid-cycle design. Each cycle consisted of: (1) infographic testing in a moderated focus group and a clinician interview (recorded/transcribed) (with questionnaire completion); (2) review of transcripts for emergent/critical findings; and (3) infographic modifications to address findings (until no new critical findings emerged). We performed iterative transcript analysis after each cycle and a summative qualitative transcript analysis with quantitative (descriptive) questionnaire analysis.

Stopping criteria were met after 4 cycles, involving 20 patients (58% male) and 4 pulmonologists (50% male). The following qualitative themes emerged: Tool content (infographic content preferences); Tool Design (infographic design preferences); Advantages of Infographic Messaging (benefits of an infographic over other approaches); Impact of Tool on Determinants of Smoking Cessation Advice Delivery (impact on barriers and enablers to delivery of smoking cessation advice in practice); and Barriers and Enablers to Quitting (impact on barriers and enablers to quitting). Patient Likert scale ratings of infographic content and format/usability were highly positive, with improvements in scores for 20/21 questions through the design process. Providers scored the infographic at 77.8% ("superior") on the Suitability Assessment of Materials questionnaire.

We developed a user preference-based personalized biomedical risk assessment infographic to drive smoking cessation in patients with COPD. Our findings suggest that this tool could impact behavioural determinants of provider smoking-cessation advice delivery, while increasing patient quit motivation. Impacts of the tool on provider care, patient motivation to quit, and smoking cessation success should now be evaluated in real-world settings.