Smoking Cessation, Smoking, Cigarette
Conditions
Keywords
pictorial warning labels, risk knowledge, emotion, memory, risk perceptions, quit intentions, numeracy
Brief summary
Pictorial cigarette warning labels (PWLs) are thought to increase risk knowledge, but experimental research has not examined PWLs' longer term effects on memory for health risks, or for numeric risks (e.g., percentage risk for developing lung cancer). This trial tests memory for numeric health risks immediately or after a six-week delay for US adult smokers. In addition, the trial tests the effects of different warning label components (e.g., whether the numeric risks are percentage or frequency), participants' level of numeric ability, and the consequences of memory for numeric risks on participant risk perceptions and quit intentions.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALtext-only PWL
BEHAVIORALlow-emot PWL
BEHAVIORALhigh-emot PWL
BEHAVIORALimmed posttest
BEHAVIORALdelay posttest
Sponsors
University of Pennsylvania
Ohio State University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* at least 18 years old * have smoked 100+ lifetime cigarettes * currently smoke every day or some days. * US resident
Exclusion criteria
* have not ever smoked a cigarette
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| numeric risk recall | immediately following last exposure or after 6-week delay | free recall for numeric risks presented in labels (e.g., \_\_\_\_% of smokers die before age 85), both for smokers and nonsmokers |
| numeric risk recognition | immediately following last exposure or after 6-week delay | Participants answered one multiple choice question about the numeric risk for smokers and nonsmokers (combined in one question) for each of the 8 outcomes that had been paired with the PWLs. For each question, there were four decoy responses. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| quit intentions | immediately following last exposure or after 6-week delay | Participants intentions to quit smoking, Likelihood of smoking within next 30 days, next year (-3 = very unlikely, 3 = very likely) |
| smoking risk perceptions | immediately following last exposure or after 6-week delay | Participants completed several scale items about how much risk they perceived smoking posed to them (e.g., Compared to the average nonsmoker your age, gender, and race, how would you rate your chances of: 1) getting a life threatening illness because of smoking, 2) getting lung cancer, and 3) dying at a younger age than average (-3 = Much lower, +3 = Much higher)) They also gave verbal likelihood ratings for each of the 8 outcomes of smoking that had been paired with the labels (e.g., Thinking of risks that you were shown in the warnings, what is the likelihood of a smoker \[non-smoker\] dying from heart disease?, 0=impossible, 11=certain) |
| smoking risk knowledge | immediately following last exposure or after 6-week delay | Participants listed as many risks of smoking as they could think of. |
Outcome results
None listed