Dallery J, Stinson L, Bolívar H, et al. (2020). mMotiv8: A Smartphone-Based Contingency Management Intervention to Promote Smoking Cessation. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. doi: 10.1002/jaba.800
Researchers assessed the efficacy and acceptability of a smartphone-based contingency management (CM) intervention, mMotiv8, in promoting smoking cessation among adult smokers over 7 weeks. Fourteen adult smokers, recruited via community flyers and print/social media ads, received the mMotiv8 app and a handheld carbon monoxide (CO) meter (Smokerlyzer) that connected to the audio jack of a personal iPhone. Participants earned $10/day of smoking abstinence (CO ≤ 5 ppm). At baseline, participants provided breath CO samples and reported smoking behavior and nicotine dependence. During treatment, mMotiv8 prompted participants to provide a CO sample within a 2-hour window up to twice daily. mMotiv8 captured an id photo of the participant providing a CO sample and sent the photo and CO results to the research clinic. At 7 weeks, participants reported app usability, acceptability, past 7-day smoking, and cessation strategies. Prevalence of CO-negative participant breath samples was over 22 times higher during the mMotiv8 intervention (89% negative) than during the baseline period (4% negative). Almost all participants (93%) reported large reductions in cigarette smoking relative to baseline, and most participants (64%) demonstrated evidence of sustained smoking abstinence while using mMotiv8. Participants found mMotiv8 usable and acceptable and provided CO samples for 85% of mMotiv8 prompts. Results suggest a contingency management (CM) app coupled with an iCO monitor offers an affordable, effective intervention that could broaden the reach of CM to underserved and rural populations. Future research could assess whether mobile CM can facilitate long-term smoking abstinence, explore integrating facial recognition software into mobile CM, and determine whether supplementing CM with other cessation strategies improves smoking abstinence outcomes.