# A Fully Automated and Culturally-Adapted mHealth Intervention for Smoking Cessation Among Black Smokers with HIV

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · 2022 · $673,873

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
People with HIV/AIDS (PWH) are twice as likely to smoke cigarettes compared with the general population.
Furthermore, PWH are less likely to quit smoking, likely due to the complex inter-play among co-occurring behavioral
risk factors, stigma, limited resources, experiences of racism and discrimination, and diminished access to health care.
Importantly, cigarette smoking is a significant risk factor for both HIV-related and non-HIV-related morbidity and
mortality among PWH. Health disparities observed among smokers with HIV are compounded by the tendency for
PWH to have lower socioeconomic status, lower education attainment, and lower access to healthcare. A major
contributing barrier to smoking cessation and HIV disease management among Black adults with HIV appears to be
their increased exposure to interoceptive-stress symptoms (e.g., anxiety, bodily sensations, stress-related burden due
to racism or HIV diagnosis discrimination or stigma). Consequently, smoking cessation interventions and HIV disease
management directed toward Black smokers with HIV might benefit from specific focus on increasing the ability to
cope with interoceptive stress. Within this context, anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a core affective vulnerability factor that is
implicated in internal distress that has emerged as a leading mechanistic target for behavioral health change. Yet, past
work has not leveraged the potential of AS to better understand smoking, HIV disease management outcomes, and
interoceptive stress relations among this health disparities group. The present proposal aims to refine and extend our
novel, culturally adapted, and initially tested mHealth intervention that targets AS among Black smokers (MASP) to
Black smokers with HIV. A total of 72 Black smokers with HIV and elevated AS will be enrolled and randomly
assigned to either: (1) the smartphone-based National Cancer Institute (NCI) QuitGuide app for standard mobile
smoking cessation treatment or (2) the individually tailored and automated MASP smoking cessation app for Black
smokers with HIV. Participants will complete a baseline assessment, pre- and post-quit ecological momentary
assessments, and follow-up assessments at weeks 1, 2 (quit date), 3, 4, 5, 6, and 28 (26 weeks post-quit) via the app
as well as receive nicotine replacement therapy. A portion of participants will also complete a qualitative interview via
phone at the 6-week post-baseline follow-up. This pivotal work will lay the foundation for a new approach to integrated
treatment among Black smokers with HIV that has the potential to overcome barriers to treatment, reduce practitioner
burden, and provide a readily available resource to support this vulnerable and underserved health disparities group.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10675133
- **Project number:** 3U54MD015946-03S4
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Ezemenari M. Obasi
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $673,873
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-08 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10675133

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10675133, A Fully Automated and Culturally-Adapted mHealth Intervention for Smoking Cessation Among Black Smokers with HIV (3U54MD015946-03S4). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10675133. Licensed CC0.

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