Mobile Health Technology for Personalized Tobacco Cessation Support in Laos
Status:
Active, not recruiting
Trial end date:
2025-08-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
In Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), 51% of adult men and 7% of adult women smoke
tobacco. The development and evaluation of sustainable tobacco cessation interventions
suitable for widespread adoption in nations such as Lao PDR are pressing public health needs.
To address this need, the investigators propose a project that adapts a theoretically and
empirically based mobile health (mHealth) technology to help people quit smoking cigarettes
in Lao PDR. This mHealth approach includes a fully automated, interactive, personalized,
smartphone-delivered intervention for behavioral treatment, delivered through our Insight™
platform.
This proposed project for Lao PDR includes 2 main phases. In the R21 Phase, the investigators
will use formative research methods to adapt our intervention content to the sociocultural
context, language, and communication styles of Laotians. In the subsequent R33 Phase, the
investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of
our mHealth intervention and technology. Adult smokers of both sexes will be recruited
through 2 large hospitals: Setthathirath Hospital in Vientiane and Champasak Hospital in
Champasak Province. Participants (n=500) will be randomized to 1 of 2 treatment groups:
Standard Care (SC; n=250) or Automated Treatment (AT; n=250). SC consists of brief advice to
quit smoking delivered by research staff, self-help written materials, and a 2-week supply of
NRT (transdermal patches). AT consists of all SC components plus a fully automated
smartphone-based treatment program that involves interactive and personalized proactive
messages, images, or videos. The primary health outcome of the trial is biochemically
confirmed self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence 12 months post study enrollment.
The project also aims to advance mHealth research capacity in Lao PDR and sustain the US-Lao
PDR research network. The project has the potential to transform healthcare services for
tobacco cessation treatment throughout the country and, ultimately, to reduce tobacco-induced
morbidity and mortality significantly.
Phase:
Phase 2
Details
Lead Sponsor:
University of Oklahoma
Collaborators:
Champasak Hospital, Lao PDR H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology, Lao PDR National Tobacco Control Committee, Lao PDR Setthathirath Hospital, Lao PDR