Testing a Self-affirmation Intervention for Use in a Mobile Application

Smoking, Smoking Cessation, Smoking, Tobacco

smoking, self-affirmation, mobile application, cessation

The aim of these studies is to adapt the self-affirmation kindness questionnaire for use in a mobile application. Two studies will be conducted to test hypotheses that simplifying and shortening the original questionnaire in systematic ways will result in comparable effectiveness (compared to the original version) in promoting reduced defensive avoidance, less reactance, greater yielding, and higher intentions to quit smoking among a sample of smokers.

Research has shown that self-affirmation interventions, in which people are instructed to focus on their strengths and values, can offset self-threats and promote healthier behaviors, such as smoking cessation. A commonly used self-affirmation intervention is known as the kindness quiz. The original kindness questionnaire (Reed & Aspinwall, 1998) consists of 10 yes/no questions, and participants are asked to think about and write down an example of each. For example, one item is Have you ever been considerate of another person's feelings? \_\_\_\_ YES \_\_\_\_NO; IF YES, WRITE ABOUT A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE. The items were written so that all participants should be able to say yes in response to each question, which will affirm a positive view of themselves. The purpose of these studies are to test shorter and simpler versions of this kindness questionnaire so that it can be implemented on mobile phones. In Study 1, we will test whether written examples are necessary for the effectiveness of the self-affirmation intervention (compared to no examples or imagined examples) compared to a control. In Study 2, we will again test whether written examples are necessary, as well as whether shorter questionnaires (i.e., 5 items or 3 items) are as effective as the original 10 item questionnaire.

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