UF HealthStreet is recruiting for a study that monitors electronic cigarette use during and after a management intervention for smoking. Sarah Martner, a graduate student in the department of psychology in the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, serves as the study’s principal investigator.
Martner hopes the study results will help to gain a better understanding how electronic cigarettes interact with smoking and whether they curb craving and withdrawal symptoms in smokers who are trying to quit.
“This study is the first ever to conduct real-time monitoring of smoking status and electronic cigarette use.”
“This study is the first ever to conduct real-time monitoring of smoking status and electronic cigarette use,” Martner said. “We monitor smoking by using carbon monoxide meters — the meters work like an alcohol breathalyzer, but detect smoking.”
Electronic cigarette use is measured with “smart” electronic cigarettes that are loaned to study participants: each time a user takes a puff, data is recorded on the time of day it is, the length of the puff smoked and how much nicotine is expended.
The intervention program is delivered via the internet, accessible through either a user’s internet browser or a smartphone application, and involves participants submitting video breath samples to us throughout the day.
If a sample meets the criteria for abstinence, participants are monetarily compensated for the sample.
“The intervention is incredibly effective for promoting smoking cessation,” she said. “One of the main goals of our project is to see if there is some relationship between the amount of cigarettes smoked and electronic cigarette use.”
“Recruitment is typically the most challenging aspect of our smoking cessation studies — HealthStreet allows us to cast a wider net and reach people who otherwise would not have heard of our program.”