Acceptability of a smart lighter for tracking cigarette smoking: A focus group study

Smart lighters track cigarette smoking episodes, which can help identify smoking patterns and intervention approaches to promote cessation. We gauged the acceptability of smart lighters among individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES), a target population for a newly developed smoking cessation mobile intervention, to evaluate their potential use during the intervention pre-quit period.

Twelve virtual focus group discussions were conducted with 38 current cigarette smokers, 18-29 years old, who were not 4-year college-educated nor enrolled in a 4-year college as an SES indicator. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a deductive thematic approach. Themes captured sentiment (i.e., negative, neutral, positive) and constructs from the Second Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (i.e., effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, performance expectancy, social influence).

Sentiment toward smart lighters was positive (54.36%). Prominent themes relevant to acceptance of smart lighters were facilitating conditions (33.98%), performance expectancy (29.12%), and effort expectancy (16.50%). Concerns about privacy, lack of awareness of smart lighters, and their unaffordability were the primary facilitating conditions discussed. Smart lighters were considered easy to use and useful cessation aids because they minimize user burden in tracking smoking behavior. Skepticism about their usefulness centered on the possibility of inadvertently triggering cravings and subsequent smoking.

Ensuring the affordability, awareness, and usability of smart lighters can increase their acceptability. Use of smart lighters in cessation interventions can provide insights into smoking patterns with minimal user burden. Consideration must be given to their potential unintended effects as cueing smoking.