Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jul 16, 2020
Date Accepted: Oct 15, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jan 4, 2022
Smartphone application for attentional bias retraining in smokers: A mixed-methods pilot study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Smoking is a global health threat. Attentional bias influences smoking behaviours. While attentional bias retraining (AR) has shown benefits, and recent advances in technology suggests AR can be delivered via smartphone application, there is a paucity of research on this pertinent topic.
Objective:
Objective:
The study aimed to address this gap by exploring the use of AR via a novel smartphone application with a mixed-methods design. In the quantitative study, it was hypothesized that participants in the training group who undertook AR via the application would have decreased levels of attentional bias, subjective craving and smoking frequency, as compared to the control group who did not do AR. The qualitative study explored how participants perceived and experienced the novel application.
Methods:
Methods:
Ten adult smokers (3 females and 7 males) between the ages of 26 to 56 years old (M=34.4, SD = 9.97) were recruited. Participants were randomly allocated into training and control groups. In week 1 and 3, participants from both groups attempted the standard visual probe task, and rated their smoking frequency and subjective craving. In week 2, participants in the training group attempted the modified visual probe task. After week 3, participants from both groups were interviewed about their views and experience of the novel application.
Results:
Results:
Results from the quantitative analysis did not support the hypothesis. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results yielded five themes of ease, helpfulness, unhelpful aspects, barriers and refinement.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
Findings from the qualitative study were consistent with previous studies on health-related smartphone applications. The overall results needed to be interpreted with caution as the quantitative results were not significant. Nevertheless, the qualitative results were helpful in understanding the user perspectives and experience of the novel application, indicating that future research in this innovative area is necessary. Clinical Trial: N.A.
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