No More Tobacco

Teatime Media has recently released an App for the iPhone that will help smokers kick their habit. The App, “My QuitLine” is one of the most simple Apps available for the iPhone. When you first open the App, you get a single sentence stating; “My QuitLine helps you quit smoking by putting you in touch with FREE expert advice from counselors at the National Cancer Institute Quitline.” Below this sentence is 2 buttons. The first button calls the National Quitline. The second button takes you to your browser to start a live chat session.

With the recent success of the Apple iPhone, this enables millions of users to have this resource avalaible at their fingertips. This could potentially help a very large number of smokers who would like help, but are unsure how to get it. This is an excellent use of technology and for such uses, the publisher of the App is to be commended on a job well done. “My QuitLine” was developed by the The George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) and the National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative (NTCC), with support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Dr. Lorien Abroms, assistant research professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at The George Washington University, studies how new media technologies can be applied for smoking cessation. She designed the app with feedback from the NTCC, after reading an NTCC report about the lack of iPhone apps that link smokers to proven therapies. “Quitline counseling has been shown to double a person’s chance of quitting smoking. It is important to make sure that in these new media environments, people still receive information about what has been proven to work in quitting smoking, and get access to tools that are based on these proven therapies,” said Dr. Abroms.

If you do not have access to the Apple iPhone, you may still access the National Cancer Institute Quitline at 1 (877) 448-7848.

The professionals at the National Cancer Institute Quitline are available Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 4:30p.m.