Project DEDUCE

Track smoking and environments as part of a research study on quitting.

This app is for adults who are taking part in a research study at Duke University on smoking, daily environments, and quitting. It helps you complete brief check-ins on your phone and securely share photos of the places you spend time, so that researchers can better understand how everyday settings influence cravings, smoking, and relapse risk. During the 2-week monitoring period before your quit date, the app will send you short surveys about 10 times per day during your usual waking hours. You will answer a few questions about when you last smoked or vaped, your current urge to smoke, your mood and stress, where you are, whether anyone around you is smoking, and what you are doing. The app will also ask you to take a quick photo of what you see from where you are. Some surveys are slightly longer, and some are very brief, to keep things manageable. You will also be asked to complete a brief survey in the app whenever you smoke, vape, or use another tobacco or nicotine product. These questions focus on what you used, how you were feeling before you used it, and where you were at the time, along with one photo of your surroundings. The information you provide will be combined with data from other participants and analyzed using advanced computer-vision and machine-learning methods. The goal is to identify features of everyday environments that make quitting smoking harder or easier and to guide the development of better future treatments to help people quit. The app itself does not provide medical care or personalized treatment recommendations. If you have questions about your smoking, quitting, or the study, please contact the study team or your healthcare provider.

Data processing and security:

The Project DEDUCE app has been developed by the company Avicenna Research, with whom the researchers at Duke University have entered into a data processing agreement. All data are stored securely and used solely for research purposes.

** IMPORTANT **

Once you provide consent and tap "Start Health Monitoring," the app begins a continuous health monitoring session. A persistent notification displays your real-time health status, including your current physical activity, step count, and session duration, with a "Stop Health Monitor" action. You can stop or restart health monitoring at any time from the in-app health status card, the notification, or the settings. Please note that stopping monitoring will end your current session, resetting your step count and activity tracking, and frequent interruptions may reduce the accuracy and completeness of the study data.