Herminger CL, Schindler-Ruwisch JM, Abroms LC. (2016). Smoking cessation support for pregnant women: Role of mobile technology. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 7:15-26. PMCID: PMC4835136
mHealth interventions have the potential to deliver treatment to pregnant women who smoke because they are easily accessible and can be less stigmatizing relative to face to face treatment. This paper reviewed text message interventions and mobile applications (apps) targeting pregnant women who smoke. The authors discussed seven interventions – five messaging based interventions and two apps. To be included in the review, the interventions had to involve some component that offered smoking cessation techniques to pregnant women and report on at least one cessation related outcome. There was no published literature on the two apps and one of the messaging-based interventions. Popular intervention features included referrals to a quit line, personalized messages, smoking behavior trackers, and support for cravings and relapses. Three of the interventions reported abstinence data, two with weak results but one intervention reported higher rates of abstinence compared to control. Users of these interventions also reported being satisfied with the intervention. Results highlight the need for evidence-based mHealth interventions for pregnant women who smoke. The authors highlight the need for rigorous trials of mobile interventions for pregnant women who smoke that use biochemical markers of abstinence.