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For research purposes, we will be recording the actions you take within this app – that is, we will record what buttons you click, when you click them, and what text you enter in response to the app’s exercises. We will be using these data to improve the app. We will not collect any identifying information like your phone number, name or location.
This app was developed by the Tobacco Control Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute in collaboration with tobacco control professionals and smoking cessation experts and with input from ex-smokers. It is provided here with permission from the National Cancer Institute, who gave permission to
Dr. Bettina Hoeppner (principal investigator) and her team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MA, USA, to conduct research on this app. The goal of her research is to develop and improve smoking cessation apps that can help people who smoke quit smoking. This version of the app, unlike the version hosted by the National Cancer Institute, records all actions you take within the app, including the text you enter in the app, and links them to an app ID. This ID is not linked to any identifying information.
In addition to making this app available here, we also conduct systematic studies. If you want to be part of one of our studies, please contact us at sis4@mgh.harvard.edu. If you do so, we would ask you to provide the app ID to our team (as shown on the home page of the app, once you install it), so that we can link your app usage data to other data we will collect from you as part of that study.
Regardless of whether you are part of one of our studies, or just using this app on your own, we will be recording the actions you take within the app. We do this to better understand what features are getting used. We recommend that you use the app for at least 7 weeks, one week prior to your quit day, and 6 weeks thereafter. It is, however, entirely up to you how long you use the app. To end your use, either simply stop using the app, and no more data will be recorded, or uninstall the app.
The data generated by your use of this app are stored on MGH secure servers, and will only be accessed and used by appropriately trained research staff, and, as-needed, by our software development partners, PreviewLabs, to trouble-shoot any technological issues.
The risks of using this app are considered minimal, and include a potential breach of confidentially. We believe this risk to be minimal, because we are collecting data via technologies that are fully HIPAA compliant, and because our study staff is properly trained about the critical importance of confidentiality and in human research subjects’ protection.
The benefits are that you may quit smoking as you use this app, which would have a substantial positive impact on your health. Your use of the app also generates generalizable knowledge that can guide the development of further treatments to support smoking cessation.
For any questions, please contact our project staff at sis4@mgh.harvard.edu. If you would like to speak to someone providing independent ethical oversight of this project, please contact the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Office of Research Integrity at 617-432-4557 or researchintegrity@dfci.harvard.edu, and reference RB number 24-501.