Integrating science and design in the development of Detour: A mobile intervention for youth smoking cessation

Evidence-based smoking cessation interventions for youth (16–25 years) are scarce. Moreover, despite showing promise, existing digital interventions often fail to engage this group effectively. Thus, designing evidence-based smoking-cessation interventions for youth that also provide a positive user experience is highly important. In the present paper, we introduce and describe Detour, a multi-component smoking cessation mobile intervention for smoking youth. While designing Detour, we combined scientific techniques with a user-centred design (UCD) approach to target psychological mechanisms such as smoking stimuli devaluation and delay discounting through the design of engaging intervention components. Practices that lie at the heart of UCD include iterative design, the involvement of the target group at all stages of design, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Thus, Detour was iteratively developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and game designers, and co-created with young people through focus groups, surveys and playtests. After introducing Detour, we illustrate the UCD process in more detail for one of the intervention components – the Detour social shell – designed to promote peer support and social influence in quitting smoking. Our design process led to a product that is both scientifically grounded and user informed. However, this process was not without challenges such as resource constraints, high attrition, and navigating interdisciplinary perspectives. Through this paper, we hope to demonstrate how scientists, clinicians, and designers can create behaviour change interventions that are not only science-based but also apply user-centred design principles to address youth’s needs and keep them engaged.