Growing Demand Blog

This post is part of our "Guest Stars" series here on the Growing Demand blog. With this week marking the American Cancer Society’s 35th Annual Great American Smokeout, we asked Dr. Jonathan Foulds for his perspectives on LIVESTRONG.COM’s new MyQuit Coach iPhone app and the role of online content, mobile and social media in living healthier. Dr. Foulds is a Professor of Public Health Sciences at Penn State University’s College of Medicine. He is a smoking cessation specialist and was one of several esteemed healthcare professionals who were involved with reviewing the LIVESTRONG.COM MyQuit Coach app (app info on iTunes).

Dr. Foulds has published over 80 papers on tobacco in peer-reviewed scientific journals, has been invited to speak on smoking cessation in 15 countries and continues to treat addicted smokers, teach on smoking cessation and conduct research on tobacco and health at Penn State College of Medicine.

AW: As a health professional advising LIVESTRONG.COM, what was your role in bringing this app to life?

JF: I was pleased to be invited to give feedback on the app from its early draft stage. I liked the concept and many of the features, but I was concerned that the original version may have encouraged some people who were ready to quit immediately to delay their quit by cutting down gradually. So I suggested some changes to make it clear that the sooner the quit the better, and also suggested some tips that smokers may find useful.

AW: You, our LIVESTRONG.COM team and the other collaborators were intent on creating a truly unique smoking cessation app. Which of the app’s features do you think really set it apart from the rest?

JF: The features that really impressed me were those allowing users to personalize their quit (e.g. by adding photographs that remind them of why they are quitting) and those linking to social support networks. There is good evidence that social support helps with quitting, and linking to online social networks seemed to be an excellent and novel idea.

AW: How do you see tools like MyQuit Coach fitting into an overall approach for quitting smoking and healthy living? What other factors are most important in accomplishing the goal?

JF: The MyQuit Coach application should help by giving a structure to the quit attempt, adding daily reminders to keep the person focused, and adding social support to keep the person going with their quit even when it gets tough. There are other aids and resources that smokers can add on to the MyQuit Coach. These include prescription and over-the-counter medicines (like the nicotine patch, or varenicline) and free national telephone quitlines like 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the US.

AW: Obviously there are some pretty substantial benefits in being able to carry around a resource like MyQuit Coach in your pocket. But as a health professional, what do you see as the promise of mobile tools for living healthier?

JF: I see numerous benefits. The social networking aspect....receiving support for positive behavior change from friends, family and special interest groups 24/7 is one feature. But applications for recording your jogging distance and time, or calorie-counting apps to help with diets are also helpful.

AW: One of the cool things about this app is that it optionally connects with both Facebook and Twitter to keep friends and family updated. How do you see social media experiences like this fitting into quitting smoking and overall healthy living?

JF: It has always been part of advice to smokers trying to quit that they should tell their friends and family. That’s fine, and these social media tools help with that. But we may not all have the most helpful friends and families for a thing like quitting smoking. These applications also help link up with chat-rooms and support networks around the world, and that could be a real benefit.

AW: Clearly the explosion of mobile devices and apps has started to change the way people track and achieve health goals. As this shift is still in the early going, how do you envision the role of mobile media and apps in say another 5 years?

JF: I believe that in 5 years we will be able to talk with and see a real quit coach, diet coach or fitness coach on our phone in real time. But with every advantage there are risks. The phone can be used to track your jogging distance and time and calories burned, but it can also be used to find the nearest burger joint! We will all have the power of the enhanced internet at our fingertips, but the trick will be how to find quality information within the vast amount of information out there. Ultimately I believe it is the social aspects that offer most benefits....allowing people to reach out and connect  and help each other much more easily than was possible 5 years ago.

Adam Weinroth is VP of Strategic Marketing for Demand Media. Follow Adam at @aweinroth.