Dr. Belinda Borrelli Publishes Paper on the Influence of mHealth and eHealth Interventions on Smoking Cessation
Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research Dr. Belinda Borrelli is first author on a paper titled, “Prevalence and Frequency of mHealth and eHealth Use Among US and UK Smokers and Differences by Motivation to Quit” published in the July 2015 Issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Dr. Borrelli, who is also Director of Behavioral Science Research, collaborated on this work with colleagues from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom—where she is a Visiting Professor—as well as a collaborator from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.
The paper investigates the use of technology by smokers who are motivated to quit and those who are unmotivated to quit in the United States and the United Kingdom. This is important because, as the paper states, smoking prevalence has plateaued: 18 percent of people in the United States are smokers and 19 percent of people in the United Kingdom are smokers. The investigators raise the issue of how to reach smokers who may not be motivated to stop smoking.
Specifically, they collected data on mobile and smartphone ownership, sending and receiving texts, downloading and using apps, using Facebook, and visiting health-related websites. In addition, the study explored the current use, and future willingness to use, electronic (eHealth) and mobile (mHealth) technology to quit smoking.
This evaluation of a previously understudied population of smokers yielded interesting results. The study evaluated a cohort of 1,000 smokers, half from the United States and half from the United Kingdom. Dr. Borrelli and her colleagues found that the overall use of these kinds of technologies was high. Although smokers who are not motivated to quit are less likely to use available technology than smokers who are motivated to quit, there was sufficient prevalence to justify exploring the use of eHealth and mHealth interventions to encourage cessation for those who are not motivated to quit.
From their findings, the investigators deduced that low effort types of communications such as text messaging may be beneficial for enticing unmotivated smokers to quit.
This large scale survey produced valuable data which will help Dr. Borrelli and her colleagues further develop new technological platforms with the goal of helping smokers quit.
“I would like to congratulate Dr. Borrelli for being published in the July 2015 Issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “Dr. Borrelli’s fascinating paper is a wonderful contribution to the medical/dental literature.” “I am also very pleased that Dr. Borrelli continues to hold her Visiting Professorship with the University of Manchester.”