Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:24:54.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The potential and barriers in the expansion and utilization of a text message-based tobacco cessation service among tobacco users in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2020

Saurav Basu Open the ORCID record for Saurav Basu [Opens in a new window]
Saurav Basu*
Affiliation:
Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi110002, India
*
Author for correspondence: Saurav Basu, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

There is growing recognition of the role of the mCessation service (MCS) in promoting tobacco cessation in India.

Objective

To examine the potential for expanding the utilization of the MCS for tobacco cessation in India after assessing the dimensions related to literacy, mobile phone access, intention to quit, and advice to quit from the second round of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis of the data collected during the second round of the nationally-representative Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) (2016–17) was conducted.

Results

Current tobacco smokers, smokeless tobacco, and dual users compromised 10.7%, 21.4%, and 3.4% of the survey participants, respectively. Quit attempts were reported by 36.3% of the existing tobacco smokers, of whom nearly 72% tried to quit without any assistance, while only 0.3% used the MCS. However, the potential expansion of the MCS was likely among 11.2% tobacco users with an existing intention to quit, being literate, Hindi-speakers and having cell-phone access.

Conclusions

The utilization of the MCS can be considerably expanded among tobacco users in India by enabling multilingual usage and incorporation as standard care practice to allow the opportunistic promotion of tobacco cessation by healthcare providers at their health clinics.

Keywords

GATSIndiamCessationmHealthtobacco cessation
Type
Brief Report
Information
Journal of Smoking Cessation , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 219 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basu, S., Yadav, P., Banerjee, B., & Yadav, A. (2020). The effect of a clinic-based behavioral intervention in promoting enrolment in a text-message tobacco cessation program at a rural primary health clinic in Delhi, India. Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, 6, 27. doi: 10.18332/tpc/120382Google Scholar
Census. (2011). Statement 4: Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength – 2011. Government of India. [Internet] {cited 14.5.2020]. vailable from: https://censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language-2011/Statement-4.pdf.Google Scholar
Cupertino, A. P., Cartujano-Barrera, F., Perales, J., Formagini, T., Rodríguez-Bolaños, R., Ellerbeck, E. F., Ponciano-Rodriguez, G., & Reynale-Shigemetsu, L.M. (2019). ‘Vive Sin tabaco… ¡decídete!’ feasibility and acceptability of an e-health smoking cessation informed decision-making tool integrated in primary healthcare in Mexico. Telemedicine Journal and E-Health, 25(5), 425–431. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2017.0299CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gopinathan, P., Kaur, J., Joshi, S., Prasad, V. M., Pujari, S., Panda, P., & Murthy, P (2018). Self-reported quit rates and quit attempts among subscribers of a mobile text messaging-based tobacco cessation program in India. BMJ Innovations, 4, 147–154. doi: 10.1136/bmjinnov-2018-000285CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruse, C., Betancourt, J., Ortiz, S., Valdes Luna, S. M., Bamrah, I. K., & Segovia, N. (2019). Barriers to the use of mobile health in improving health outcomes in developing countries: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(10), e13263. doi: 10.2196/13263CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mascarenhas, A (2019) WHO report: Mobile scheme to quit tobacco has over 2 million users in India. [Internet] [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/mobile-scheme-to-quit-tobacco-has-over-2-million-users-in-india-5855457/Google Scholar
National Health Portal, India (2016) MCS Program: Quit tobacco for life. [Internet]. [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://www.nhp.gov.in/quit-tobacco-about-program_mtlGoogle Scholar
Noonan, D., Silva, S., Njuru, J., Bishop, T., Fish, L. J., Simmons, L. A., Choi, S. H. & Pollak, K. I. (2018). Feasibility of a text-based smoking cessation intervention in rural older adults. Health Education Research, 33(1), 81–88. doi: 10.1093/her/cyx080CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
PwC & Assocham India. (2020). Video on Demand: Entertainment reimagined. [Internet] [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/publications/2018/video-on-demand.pdf.Google Scholar
Raw, M., Mackay, J., & Reddy, S. (2016). Time to take tobacco dependence treatment seriously. The Lancet, 387(10017), 412–413. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00950-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Regmi, K., Kassim, N., Ahmad, N., & Tuah, N. (2017). A. Effectiveness of mobile apps for smoking cessation: Α review. Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, 3, 12. doi: 10.18332/tpc/70088Google Scholar
Singh, K. (2019). Quartz India. The SMS inbox on Indian smartphones is now just a spam bin. [Internet] [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://qz.com/india/1573148/telecom-realty-firms-banks-send-most-sms-spam-in-india/Google Scholar
Sinha, D. N., Gupta, P. C., Kumar, A., Bhartiya, D., Agarwal, N., Sharma, S. et al. (2017). The poorest of poor suffer the greatest burden from smokeless tobacco use: A study from 140 countries. Nicotine Tobacco Research, 20, 1529–1532.10.1093/ntr/ntx276CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smokefree.gov. (2020). Frequently asked questions. [Internet] [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://smokefree.gov/tools-tips/text-programs/faqs#what-are-keywordsGoogle Scholar
Statistica. (2020). Average number of monthly text messages (SMS) sent per GSM mobile subscriber across India from 1st quarter 2017 to 3rd quarter [Internet] [Cited 18th July 2020]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/639902/monthly-text-messages-sent-by-network-india/Google Scholar
Suffoletto, B. (2016). Text message behavioral interventions: From here to where? Current Opinion in Psychology, 9, 16–21. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). (2017) Mumbai and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Global Adult Tobacco Survey GATS 2 India 2016–17.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R., McRobbie, H., Bullen, C., Rodgers, A., & Gu, Y. (2016). Mobile phone-based interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews, 4, CD006611. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006611.pub4Google ScholarPubMed
WHO. (2019). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar