Smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide, responsible for over 8 million deaths annually, including more than 1 million from secondhand smoke exposure . Although cessation services are expanding globally, around 85% of smokers still lack access to effective support, even though success rates can rise above 20% with behavioral interventions . In China, the tobacco burden is particularly severe: about 2 million people die from tobacco-related diseases every year, most of them men, yet fewer than 8% of smokers have ever received cessation support .
SCAMPI (Smoking Cessation App for Chinese Male: Pilot Intervention) is an innovative WeChat-based digital therapeutic tailored for Chinese male smokers. Developed using the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, SCAMPI integrates gamification, health information, motivational messages, and peer support to provide a comprehensive set of tools for quitting smoking.
With SCAMPI, users create personalized quit plans, track savings and health benefits via a calculator, and monitor progress using a calendar. Gamification features such as leaderboards maintain motivation, while health assessments (lung function and nicotine dependence tests) and peer-support communities help users resist relapse triggers.
In a randomized pilot trial, SCAMPI achieved a 25% biochemically verified quit rate at 6 weeks, compared with only 5% in the control group (RR=5, P=.03) . User satisfaction was very high, with an average rating of 4.56 out of 5 . Systematic reviews further confirm that smartphone-based cessation interventions significantly improve quit success and can also positively impact mental health . These findings suggest SCAMPI is not only effective for smoking cessation but also fosters long-term health behavior change .