Feasibility of and reactivity to ecological momentary assessment (EMA) during electronic cigarette use initiation in adults who smoke daily

Abstract

Background and objectives

This pilot study tested the feasibility of tracking e-cigarette initiation over three months using a burst-of-measurement approach and examined reactivity to the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data capture technique in this context.

Methods

Adults who smoked daily and were interested in trying e-cigarette use received an e-cigarette starter kit and were randomized to complete EMA reports (n = 30) vs. not (n = 29). Participants (M_age=44.1 years [SD=12.6], 61.0 % male, 54.3 % White, 38.9 % Black/African American) smoked 13.0 cigarettes per day on average (SD=8.4) and reported mild-to-moderate nicotine dependence (M_FTND=4.0 [SD=2.3]). Biochemical assessment and surveys were conducted at enrollment, e-cigarette initiation (1 week later), and 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month post e-cigarette initiation.

Results

A subset (17 %) of participants did not achieve the minimum 75 % EMA adherence at Week 1. The remaining participants showed excellent adherence with the EMA protocol, with a consistently high response rate to audibly prompted mini-surveys during screening (93 %) and follow-up weeks (93 %, 93 %, and 92 %, respectively). No consistent trend emerged in comparing the two randomized groups, either on variables relevant to the public health impact of e-cigarette initiation (i.e., cigarettes/day, exposure to smoke, exposure to nicotine, motivation to quit smoking), or in e-cigarette use (i.e., bouts/day, puffs/bout), with average Cohen's d values across timepoints ranging from d = 0.02 for exposure to smoke to d = 0.06 for cigarettes per day.

Conclusions

Conducting EMA with adults who smoke daily and are initiating e-cigarette use appears feasible, with some caveats. Reactivity to EMA during e-cigarette initiation appears to be small or non-significant.