Researchers awarded £2.5 million to develop digital stop smoking support for pregnant people
By: Communications
A UEA research team in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Addiction Research Group have been awarded a six-year NIHR Programme Grant of £2.5 million to develop and evaluate a digital conversion of specialist stop smoking support for pregnant people.
This project will create ‘eSupport’, a digital support package designed to help women stop smoking in pregnancy. This would include help to use NRT, and possibly vapes. eSupport will be designed for use on its own and as an ‘add on’ to NHS counselling support.
Led by Prof Felix Naughton from the School of Health Sciences, the project’s eSupport intervention is expected to include a virtual advisor powered by Artificial Intelligence, remote Nicotine Replacement Therapy provision and tailored behavioural support to help increase smoking cessation rates during pregnancy.
Prof Naughton said: “Currently, not many pregnant people who smoke engage with routine one-to-one NHS stop smoking support, yet most are motivated to stop smoking. In the eSupport project, we will investigate a new way for pregnant people to access stop smoking support – through digital media including an app. If effective and attractive, eSupport could increase the number of pregnant people successfully quitting smoking, which will save babies’ lives and improve the health of many more mothers and babies.”
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