Quitxt Mobile Text Messaging Cessation Research Study

Summary

The health benefits of smoking cessation by age 30 are much greater than cessation later in life, including gaining 10 years of life, compared with those who continue to smoke. The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the bilingual and culturally tailored Quitxt mobile cessation intervention. Quitxt provides interactive messages through texts or chat with visual and video content employing theory- and evidence-based techniques to prompt and sustain cessation. The study will recruit 1,200 Latino young adult smokers aged 18-29 who enroll and agree to make quit attempts, with half randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to receive Quitxt and half to abbreviated text messages with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services cessation program Yes Quit (which has diverse formats, but not explicitly tailored for young Latino adults in South Texas). Participants respond to baseline and follow-up assessments at one, three and six months after their enrollment, and those who report cessation will be asked to provide saliva samples to confirm they quit smoking. The sample size will be sufficient to detect expected higher cessation rates in those who are enrolled in Quitxt than those who are enrolled in Texas DSHS Yes Quit. The investigators will publish results in scientific journals, report them at scientific and community meetings, share them on social media, and publicize them widely. This study has the potential to advance public health by evaluating the effectiveness of a scalable, easily disseminated and adaptable intervention to help young adults, especially Latinos, quit smoking and reduce smoking-related cancer and chronic disease morbidity and mortality and their associated healthcare costs.

Conditions

• Smoking Cessation

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Quitxt text messaging or Chat

Mobile intervention using proven social cognitive, motivational interviewing, and brief intervention methods for promoting behavior change - blends bilingual text and social media messaging for smoking cessation tailored to the language and culture of young adult smokers in our vulnerable region of South Texas.

OTHER

Usual care

Abbreviated text messaging with smoking cessation-related content and referral to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) cessation program Yes Quit.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Texas at San Antonio

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Patricia Chalela, DrPH · The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

29 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-02-12

Primary Completion

2028-08-31

Completion

2028-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations