TControl: A Tobacco-Quitting Support Platform

Abstract

Background. Nowadays, the healthy lifestyle is on the rise and tobacco is one of the most common problems that affect a large part of the population since it is a major risk factor for a wide range of respiratory and circulatory diseases in active and passive smokers. That is the reason why more and more people are deciding to quit their habit in search of a healthier life due to health problems or because they want to lead healthier lives. All of them should know that it is never too late to try it and that by leading healthy lifestyle habits and with the right support can make the process easier and more bearable. This is where TControl comes in, a platform focused on the process of tobacco-quitting and oriented to both professionals and patients through its web portal and its particular ”mobile application”. Objective. Develop an efficient platform that facilitates the management of, and assistance to, people who want to quit smoking with an useful and easy to use mobile complement with to keep in touch patients with specialists while providing tips and customized features. Methodology. We present TControl, web portal developed using Java and Grails, a Spring based framework, that allows specialists to manage and assist its current patients by compiling their medical history, tracking all the progress, providing tips and a multi-platform messaging service (mail, SMS and app). Also offers patients the possibility to keep in touch in a closer way with their medical responsible, while receiving useful tips and take profit from customized features through an useful and easy to use mobile complement. Results. TControl keeps track of the smoke-quitting users, tracking their status, interpreting it, and offering advice and psychological support messages. It also provides a bidirectional communication channel between patients and clinicians via its mobile complement which it has been decided to develop on a platform whose stability and performance are proven by millions of users: Telegram. Conclusions. TControl is a very useful platform for specialists and current patients that decide to start the difficult process of tobacco-quitting. Overall, TControl is a good tool that helps people improve their health.