Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India
Background: The WHO tobacco control team established the Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco (AIQT) in July 2020. The AIQT team developed a virtual assistant “Florence” to provide digital counseling services to people willing to quit tobacco. Aim: To assess tobacco users’ experience of using WHO...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Industrial Psychiatry Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/ipj.ipj_280_24 |
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| author | Enub Ali Nitin Antony Ankur Sachdeva Smita N. Deshpande |
| author_facet | Enub Ali Nitin Antony Ankur Sachdeva Smita N. Deshpande |
| author_sort | Enub Ali |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background:
The WHO tobacco control team established the Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco (AIQT) in July 2020. The AIQT team developed a virtual assistant “Florence” to provide digital counseling services to people willing to quit tobacco.
Aim:
To assess tobacco users’ experience of using WHO digital health assistant “Florence” and to track their behavior changes.
Materials and Methods:
The study was conducted at a tertiary care Teaching Hospital in Delhi-NCR, India from November 2021 to March 2022. A total of 102 English-speaking tobacco users were enrolled through snowballing and online requests to use Florence (https://www.who.int/campaigns/Florence), once at baseline, and pursue as often as they wish during the next three months. A predesigned WHO questionnaire (Florence Introductory Questionnaire and Florence User Follow-up Questionnaire) was used to assess participants’ experiences of using Florence and track changes in tobacco use behavior at follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed through SPSS-22 using appropriate frequency distribution parameters and nonparametric tests to assess acceptance and efficacy of Florence.
Results:
Most participants at baseline, over 3-5 minutes, felt that Florence could not understand their speech (48%), and needed improvement in advice and information on quitting and tobacco use (52%) but felt comfortable interacting with Florence (42.2%). However, participants who re-visited Florence during the next 3 months (12/102) agreed that Florence helped them make a quit plan and used the recommended toll-free quit (9/12). Overall, there was a significant increase in proportion of participants who did not consume tobacco in the last 07 days after using Florence (09 versus 25 of 102, P < 0.01) and made quit plans (07 versus 15 of 102, P < 0.01) compared to baseline.
Conclusion:
Considering the ease, accessibility, and amount of time spent with this virtual assistant, Florence appears a positive step forward in tobacco cessation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d1c3b54a291d4596b514bbf234473dba |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0972-6748 0976-2795 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Industrial Psychiatry Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-d1c3b54a291d4596b514bbf234473dba2025-01-07T06:45:15ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsIndustrial Psychiatry Journal0972-67480976-27952024-12-0133236637210.4103/ipj.ipj_280_24Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in IndiaEnub AliNitin AntonyAnkur SachdevaSmita N. DeshpandeBackground: The WHO tobacco control team established the Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco (AIQT) in July 2020. The AIQT team developed a virtual assistant “Florence” to provide digital counseling services to people willing to quit tobacco. Aim: To assess tobacco users’ experience of using WHO digital health assistant “Florence” and to track their behavior changes. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at a tertiary care Teaching Hospital in Delhi-NCR, India from November 2021 to March 2022. A total of 102 English-speaking tobacco users were enrolled through snowballing and online requests to use Florence (https://www.who.int/campaigns/Florence), once at baseline, and pursue as often as they wish during the next three months. A predesigned WHO questionnaire (Florence Introductory Questionnaire and Florence User Follow-up Questionnaire) was used to assess participants’ experiences of using Florence and track changes in tobacco use behavior at follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed through SPSS-22 using appropriate frequency distribution parameters and nonparametric tests to assess acceptance and efficacy of Florence. Results: Most participants at baseline, over 3-5 minutes, felt that Florence could not understand their speech (48%), and needed improvement in advice and information on quitting and tobacco use (52%) but felt comfortable interacting with Florence (42.2%). However, participants who re-visited Florence during the next 3 months (12/102) agreed that Florence helped them make a quit plan and used the recommended toll-free quit (9/12). Overall, there was a significant increase in proportion of participants who did not consume tobacco in the last 07 days after using Florence (09 versus 25 of 102, P < 0.01) and made quit plans (07 versus 15 of 102, P < 0.01) compared to baseline. Conclusion: Considering the ease, accessibility, and amount of time spent with this virtual assistant, Florence appears a positive step forward in tobacco cessation.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/ipj.ipj_280_24digitalflorenceindiaonlinetobacco cessationwho |
| spellingShingle | Enub Ali Nitin Antony Ankur Sachdeva Smita N. Deshpande Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India Industrial Psychiatry Journal digital florence india online tobacco cessation who |
| title | Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India |
| title_full | Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India |
| title_fullStr | Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India |
| title_short | Initial experiences of an english-speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in India |
| title_sort | initial experiences of an english speaking digital assistant for tobacco cessation in india |
| topic | digital florence india online tobacco cessation who |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/ipj.ipj_280_24 |
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