Pilot study of a mobile smoking cessation intervention for low-income smokers with serious mental illness

People with serious mental illness (SMI) have high rates of smoking and need better access to cessation treatment. Mobile behavioral interventions for cessation have been effective for the general population, but are not usable by many with SMI due to cognitive impairments or severe symptoms. We developed a tailored mobile cessation treatment intervention with features to reduce cognitive load.

We enrolled 20 smokers with SMI and showed them how to use the program on a device of their choice. They were assessed at 8 weeks for intervention use, usability, satisfaction, smoking characteristics, and biologically verified abstinence.

Participants accessed an average of 23.6 intervention sessions (SD = 17.05; range 1-48; median = 17.5) for an average total of 231.64 minutes (SD = 227.13; range 4.89-955.21; median = 158.18). For 87% of the sessions, average satisfaction scores were 3 or greater on a scale of 1-4. Regarding smoking, 25% of participants had reduced their smoking and 10% had biologically verified abstinence from smoking at 8 weeks.

Home and community use of this mobile cessation intervention was feasible among smokers with SMI. Further research is needed to evaluate such scalable approaches to increase access to behavioral treatment for this group.