PHARMQUIT: AN INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY PHARMACIST-ASSISTED SMARTPHONE APPLICATION FOR SMOKING CESSATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.22/no.1/art.1080Keywords:
PharmQuit, Smoking cessation, Mobile app, Community PharmacistAbstract
Smoking is a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. This study describes the development of an interactive app, PharmQuit, based on a user experience framework in collaboration with pharmacist counseling. There were three phases in the development process. First, clinical practice guidelines were researched together with discussions with experienced counsellors. Second, a diagram was developed to support two-way communication between smokers and pharmacists. Third, user testing was done by conducting a satisfaction survey and a one-month trial. The development of PharmQuit was based on five elements: strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, and surface. The first element was strategy. The aim of the app was to encourage smokers to quit smoking, stay with the program, and stay in contact with a community pharmacist. The second element, scope, included the features of daily encouragement, health status tracking, and community connection. The third element, structure, explained the connections between features. The fourth element, skeleton, showed the arrangement of buttons and fields that made up seven pages of the app. The last element, surface, covered color and cartoon figures. PharmQuit was linked to the web system for clinical information. The highest satisfaction scores were Design (4.3+0.9), Beauty (4.1+1.0), and Objective (4.1+0.9). The one-month trial for PharmQuit showed an average access of 21 times with a continuous abstinence rate of 31 percent. In conclusion, PharmQuit was developed with the needs of smokers and pharmacists in mind. The features and users’ testing showed that the app was able to properly function corresponding to its objectives and design.
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