Detour: a Smartphone Game to Help Youth Quit Smoking

Summary

The researchers are testing a mobile game (named Detour) to support smoking cessation in adolescents and young adults (16-25 years). The game will be tested in a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) where Detour is tested against a digital self-help brochure ("Jouw eigen plan om te stoppen met roken" \[in English: Your personal plan to quit smoking\]) as the active control group. The researchers will recruit 604 participants (aged 16-25) and randomly assign them to receive the game or brochure intervention. The duration between pre-test and post-test for both groups is 5 weeks during which participants can access (parts of) their respective intervention. All participants quit smoking at the end of week 1 of the intervention period. Data is collected on smoking behaviour, intervention usage, and emotional well-being.

Conditions

• Smoking Cessation
• Smoking Reduction
• Adolescent Behavior
• Social Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Detour

"Detour" is a mobile game designed to assist youth with smoking cessation. First, Detour targets stimuli devaluation using a gamified go/no-go training. Second, the researchers aimed to reduce delay discounting in two ways; 1) players can replace neutral images in the go/no-go training with positive images from their own lives related to their future self; 2) players can set and monitor personal goals via the game, to promote future-self priming. Third, participants join a social shell comprising Instagram and TikTok content to provide psychoeducation about quitting smoking and to interact with fellow players who quit simultaneously. Finally, the timing and content of in-game messaging is personalized to each participant based on information provided in an ecological momentary assessment component and a stop plan filled out during the week before the quit attempt.

BEHAVIORAL

Self-help brochure

The brochure provides guidelines to independently design a stop-plan including questions about seeking support from others, strategies to fight cravings, and setting rewards for milestones after quitting. Participants will be encouraged to complete this stop-plan in week 0 of the intervention, so the week before quit day. Additionally, the brochure includes psychoeducational information that is valuable when planning to quit smoking.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Erasmus Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Stichting Trimbos-Instituut

  collaborator OTHER

• Behavioural Science Institute

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Maartje Luijten, PhD · Radboud University Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-07-05

Primary Completion

2025-12-31

Completion

2026-08-31

Countries

• Netherlands

Study Locations