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. 2022 Jun 30:4:821049.
doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2022.821049. eCollection 2022.

Mobile Health Tobacco Cessation Interventions to Promote Health Equity: Current Perspectives

Samuel L Battalio  1 , Angela F Pfammatter  1 , Kiarri N Kershaw  1 , Alexis Hernandez  1 , David E Conroy  2 , Bonnie Spring  1
Affiliations

Mobile Health Tobacco Cessation Interventions to Promote Health Equity: Current Perspectives

Samuel L Battalio et al. Front Digit Health. .

Abstract

Although US tobacco use trends show overall improvement, social disadvantage continues to drive significant disparities. Traditional tobacco cessation interventions and public policy initiatives have failed to equitably benefit socially-disadvantaged populations. Advancements in mobile digital technologies have created new opportunities to develop resource-efficient mobile health (mHealth) interventions that, relative to traditional approaches, have greater reach while still maintaining comparable or greater efficacy. Their potential for affordability, scalability, and efficiency gives mHealth tobacco cessation interventions potential as tools to help redress tobacco use disparities. We discuss our perspectives on the state of the science surrounding mHealth tobacco cessation interventions for use by socially-disadvantaged populations. In doing so, we outline existing models of health disparities and social determinants of health (SDOH) and discuss potential ways that mHealth interventions might be optimized to offset or address the impact of social determinants of tobacco use. Because smokers from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds face multi-level barriers that can dynamically heighten the risks of tobacco use, we discuss cutting-edge mHealth interventions that adapt dynamically based on context. We also consider complications and pitfalls that could emerge when designing, evaluating, and implementing mHealth tobacco cessation interventions for socially-disadvantaged populations. Altogether, this perspective article provides a conceptual foundation for optimizing mHealth tobacco cessation interventions for the socially-disadvantaged populations in greatest need.

Keywords: cessation; disparities (health; disparities (health racial); mHealth (mobile health); tobacco and tobacco product.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual model for equitable, SDOH-informed intervention development.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hypothetical application of proposed conceptual model using the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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