ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2026
A tale of two apps: preliminary usability testing of smoking cessation mobile applications among individuals with low socioeconomic status who smoke cigarettes.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo examine the usability of two smoking cessation apps, Quit Journey, a newly developed app, and QuitGuide, a benchmark app, among young adults who smoked and were socioeconomically disadvantaged, as a primary target population for smoking cessation efforts.
methodsTen current cigarette smokers aged 18–29 years who were neither four-year college graduates nor enrollees participated in virtual think-aloud 1-hour usability sessions. Sessions were held on GoTo Meeting, audio- and screen-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Participants completed tasks on simulated versions of each app. We assessed task completion success rates, time-to-completion in seconds, and post-testing usability measures (e.g., System Usability Scale [SUS]). We used deductive thematic analysis to code qualitative participant feedback for constructs from the Second Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and sentiment.
resultsFor Quit Journey, task completion rates averaged 55.17% and time-to-completion ranged from 7.00 to 69.00 s. For QuitGuide, completion rates averaged 80.64% and time-to-completion ranged from 4.00 to 54.00 s. SUS scores averaged 69.00 and 81.87 for Quit Journey and QuitGuide, respectively. Participants’ feedback focused mainly on perceived effort and usefulness of apps’ features.
conclusionsUsability testing revealed deviations from usability guidelines (e.g., confirming user-input), resulting in lower task completion rates and longer completion times, especially for Quit Journey. Resolving usability issues identified in this testing round will help improve user experiences in future iterations of Quit Journey. Iterative usability testing is critical to optimize the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of smoking cessation apps and should be integral to their development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.