Ningyuan Guo

My name is Ningyuan Guo, PhD candidate from School of Nursing, University of Hong Kong. My PhD training focuses on addiction research, with broader interests in tobacco and alcohol dependence as well as behavioral addictions such as internet gaming disorder and internet addictions. I have engaged in several studies examining behavioral and psychosocial determinants of addictions and associated health outcomes, using different study designs including large population-based survey, prospective cohort study, and ecological momentary assessment. I am now engaging in an ongoing randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation among community smokers in Hong Kong. The trial delivered evidence-based text message behavioral support using instant messaging applications (WhatsApp). We also developed and used an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to provide automatic responses to smokers, acting as a supplement of human smoking cessation advisors on WhatsApp. The trial would advance smoking cessation research in the era of rapid development of information communication technologies.