Co-designing a mhealth intervention to prevent smoking relapse after birth

Abstract

Background: Smoking during pregnancy is a well-known risk factor for both the mother and the baby. mHealth offers novel ways to implement smoking-cessation interventions with broader reach and the potential to be more successful. Methods: We conducted twelve semi-structured interviews in November-December 2017 with women who just gave birth and quit smoking before or during pregnancy. A thematic analysis was conducted to explore women’s views on the two components. Results: Most women found the text messages easy to understand and virtually all women rated their content as relevant for preventing smoking relapse. Also, they expressed interest in using the proposed relapse prevention app and, in general, appreciated the app positively. Some women, however, felt that the smoking relapse decision is highly personal and cannot be influenced by text messages or other types of assistance programs. Conclusions: Stay Quit Together is, to our knowledge, the first postpartum tobacco smoking relapse prevention program combining an app and text messages. This study suggests that Stay Quit Together would be accepted and used postpartum by women who spontaneously quit smoking during or before pregnancy.