A randomised controlled trial of Detour: a multi-component app-based intervention for youth smoking cessation
Abstract
Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable death, and adolescents and young adults (AYA) report the highest levels of smoking across age groups. Yet, quitting before 30 years can reduce most health risks attached to smoking. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of effective interventions catering to AYAs specifically. In the present pre-registered randomised controlled trial, we tested the efficacy of Detour, a multi-component app-based intervention, against a digital self-help brochure (N = 613; Mage = 20.9 years). The intervention period was five weeks long with one pre-quit week and four post-quit weeks. Quit day was on the first day of the second intervention week. Participants filled questionnaires at the start and end of the intervention, as well as three and six months later. The primary cessation outcome was 14-day point prevalence of smoking at 6-month follow-up. Secondary cessation outcomes included smoking prevalence at post-test and 3-month follow up, and weekly smoking at all time points. Contrary to our hypotheses, the Detour group did not report higher abstinence rates than the brochure group at any time points. Unexpectedly, the Detour group reported higher weekly smoking levels than the brochure group at all time points. These results could potentially be attributed to the comparison of Detour with an active control group, and technical limitations of the Detour app. Future studies can consider having an additional inactive control group to tease out general intervention effects and designing simpler interventions with a special focus on functionality and technological smoothness.
Related
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- Remote vs. In-Person Study Evaluation (RISE) Trial 1 of 3 to examine the impact of decentralized trial methods on accrual efficiency, retention, biospecimen capture, and treatment utilization: study protocol for a multi-center randomized controlled trial in the context of smoking cessation (RISE Above Smoking)
BibTeX
@misc{kochhar2026randomised,
title = {{A randomised controlled trial of Detour: a multi-component app-based intervention for youth smoking cessation}},
author = {Suhaavi Kochhar and Hanneke Scholten and Maartje Luijten},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/yhdm4_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yhdm4_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A randomised controlled trial of Detour: a multi-component app-based intervention for youth smoking cessation
AU - Suhaavi Kochhar
AU - Hanneke Scholten
AU - Maartje Luijten
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/yhdm4_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yhdm4_v1/
AB - Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable death, and adolescents and young adults (AYA) report the highest levels of smoking across age groups. Yet, quitting before 30 years can reduce most health risks attached to smoking. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of effective interventions catering to AYAs specifically. In the present pre-registered randomised controlled trial, we tested the efficacy of Detour, a multi-component app-based intervention, against a digital self-help brochure (N = 613; Mage = 20.9 years). The intervention period was five weeks long with one pre-quit week and four post-quit weeks. Quit day was on the first day of the second intervention week. Participants filled questionnaires at the start and end of the intervention, as well as three and six months later. The primary cessation outcome was 14-day point prevalence of smoking at 6-month follow-up. Secondary cessation outcomes included smoking prevalence at post-test and 3-month follow up, and weekly smoking at all time points. Contrary to our hypotheses, the Detour group did not report higher abstinence rates than the brochure group at any time points. Unexpectedly, the Detour group reported higher weekly smoking levels than the brochure group at all time points. These results could potentially be attributed to the comparison of Detour with an active control group, and technical limitations of the Detour app. Future studies can consider having an additional inactive control group to tease out general intervention effects and designing simpler interventions with a special focus on functionality and technological smoothness.
ER -