A Gender-Informed Smoking Cessation App for Women: Protocol for an Acceptability and Feasibility Study

Abstract

BackgroundTobacco smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease among women. Quitting smoking offers numerous health benefits; however, women tend to have less success than men when attempting to quit. This discrepancy is partly due to sex- and gender-related factors, including the lower effectiveness of smoking cessation medication and the presence of unique motives for smoking and barriers to quitting among women. Despite the gendered nature of smoking, most smoking cessation apps are gender-neutral and fail to address women’s specific needs. ObjectiveThis study aims to test the acceptability and feasibility of a smartphone app that delivers gender-informed content to support women in quitting smoking. MethodsWe co-developed a smoking cessation app specifically tailored for women, named My Change Plan-Women (MCP-W). This app builds upon our previous gender-neutral app, MCP, by retaining its content grounded in behavioral change techniques aimed at supporting tobacco reduction and cessation. This includes goal setting for quitting, identifying triggers to smoking, creating coping strategies, tracking cigarettes and cravings, and assessing financial savings from quitting smoking. The MCP-W app contains additional gender-informed content that acknowledges barriers to quitting, such as coping with stress, having smokers in one’s social circle, and managing unpleasant emotions. This content is delivered through testimonials and animated videos. This study is a prospective, single-group, mixed methods investigation in which 30 women smokers will trial the app for a period of 28 days. Once participants provide informed consent, they will complete a baseline survey and download the app on their smartphones. After 28 days, participants will complete follow-up surveys. Acceptability will be assessed using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability, which evaluates whether participants perceive the app as helpful in changing their smoking. The app will be deemed acceptable if the majority of participants rate it as such, and feasible if the majority of the participants use it for at least 7 days. Furthermore, after the 28-day trial period, participants will complete a semistructured interview regarding their experience with the app and suggestions for improvement. ResultsDevelopment of the MCP-W app was completed in September 2023. Participant recruitment for testing of the app commenced in February 2024 and was completed in July 2024. We will analyze the data upon completion of data collection from all 30 participants. We expect to share the results of this acceptability trial in the middle of 2025. ConclusionsOffering smoking cessation support tailored specifically to address the unique needs of women through a smartphone app represents a novel approach. This study will test whether women who smoke perceive this approach to be acceptable and feasible in their journey toward smoking cessation. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/60677