Trial reportTranslational behavioral medicine2021
Engagement with a digital therapeutic for smoking cessation designed for persons with psychiatric illness fully mediates smoking outcomes in a pilot randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Translational behavioral medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness and Experience of Implementing Digital Interventions to Promote Smoking Cessation Among Adults With Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Pooled it
- Digital health behaviour change interventions in severe mental illness: a systematic review.Psychological medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Population reach, feasibility and acceptability of digital therapeutics for smoking cessation among people living with HIV: Results of the Quitting Matters pilot trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Trial
- Pilot Study of a Mobile, Virtual Reality-Based Digital Therapeutic for Smoking Cessation: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Trial
- Anxiety sensitivity reduction-smoking cessation intervention among individuals who engage in dual cigarette and cannabis use: A secondary analysis.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Trial
- Cumulative vulnerabilities and smoking abstinence: A test from a randomized clinical trial.Behaviour research and therapy · 2023Trial
- Smoking Cessation Smartphone App Use Over Time: Predicting 12-Month Cessation Outcomes in a 2-Arm Randomized Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Trial
- Mechanisms of Smartphone Apps for Cigarette Smoking Cessation: Results of a Serial Mediation Model From the iCanQuit Randomized Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Trial
- Neuropsychological Mechanisms Associated with the Effectiveness of AI-Delivered Health Promotion Programs: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Smartphone Apps and Digital Tools for Managing Schizophrenia and Psychotic Disorders: A Clinical Review.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2025Review
- Development of an algorithm impacting COPD care through personalized nutrition and IoT-based monitoring.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Integrating the smoke-free app into a multicomponent intervention for people with mental health conditions who smoke: a short report of a service-improvement project.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Initial Evaluation of Acceptability, Engagement, and Effectiveness of the MO App to Provide Tailored and Comprehensive Support for Smoking Cessation: Development and Usability Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Article
- Anxiety sensitivity in relation to smoking dependence motives among Latinx persons who smoke.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- Mobile Health Interventions for Substance Use Disorders.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2024Review
- Article
- Efficacy of the QuitSure App for Smoking Cessation in Adult Smokers: Cross-Sectional Web Survey.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- The Impact of Intervention Design on User Engagement in Digital Therapeutics Research: Factorial Experiment With a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- The Impact of Digital Health on Smoking Cessation.Interactive journal of medical research · 2023Article
- Smoking Cessation Apps for People with Schizophrenia: How Feasible Are m-Health Approaches?Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms of change of digital therapeutics is a critical step to improve digital health outcomes and optimize their development. Access to and engagement with digital content is arguably a core mechanism of change of these interventions. However, the mediational role of app engagement has been largely unexamined. To evaluate the mediational effect of engaging with a digital therapeutic for smoking cessation designed for adults with psychiatric disorders. Secondary analysis of a pilot clinical trial of 62 adults with serious mental illness who were randomized to receive either a tailored digital therapeutic (Learn to Quit) or a digital therapeutic for the general public (NCI QuitGuide). Engagement was captured using background analytics of app utilization, including (a) number of interactions with app content, (b) minutes/day of app use, and (c) number of days used. The main outcome was reductions in cigarettes per day from baseline to the four-month endpoint. Mediational analysis followed the Preacher and Hayes bootstrap method. Number of application interactions fully mediated reductions in cigarettes per day in the Learn to Quit application but not in QuitGuide (Average Causal Mediation Effect = .31, p = .02). Minutes/day of app use played an uncertain role, and number of days used was not a significant mediator. Results suggest that one of the mechanisms of action of the Learn to Quit device, engagement with theory-based content, functioned as intended. Future research of digital therapeutics should emphasize granular approaches to evaluating apps' mechanisms of action.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.