The influence of newspaper coverage and a media campaign on smokers' support for smoke-free bars and restaurants and on secondhand smoke harm awareness: findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Netherlands Survey

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of newspaper coverage and a media campaign about Dutch smoke-free legislation on smokers’ support for smoke-free bars and restaurants and on second-hand smoke (SHS) harm awareness. DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A content analysis was conducted of 1,041 newspaper articles on the smoke-free legislation published in six Dutch newspapers from March 2008 until April 2009. Smokers who were regular readers of at least one of these newspapers (n = 677) were selected from the pre- and post-ban waves of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Netherlands Survey. Exposure to newspaper coverage and to the implementation campaign were correlated with changes in smokers’ support for smoke-free bars and restaurants and SHS harm awareness. RESULTS: Most newspaper coverage was found to be negative towards the smoking ban (57%) and focused on economic aspects (59%) rather than health aspects (22%). Exposure to this coverage had a small but significantly negative effect on support for smoke-free bars and restaurants (Beta = −0.09, p = 0.013). Among higher educated smokers, exposure to positive newspaper coverage had a more positive effect on support for smoke-free bars and restaurants. In addition, exposure to the implementation campaign had a small but significantly positive effect on SHS harm awareness (Beta = 0.11, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Media attention about smoke-free legislation can influence smokers’ support for the legislation and SHS harm awareness. Tobacco control advocates should aim to establish positive media attention that puts forward the health arguments for the legislation

Cue-Reminders to Prevent Health-Risk Behaviors: A Systematic Review

Introduction: It has been proposed that the use of cue-reminders may increase the effectiveness of interventions that aim to prevent health-risk behaviors (i.e., having unsafe sex, unhealthy dietary intake, lack of physical activity, and substance use). The aim of this systematic review was to explore whether there is evidence supporting this proposition, and to explore how cue-reminders are applied in health-risk behavior interventions to date.Method: We systemically reviewed (non-) randomized trials that examine differences in health-risk behaviors between an experimental group receiving an intervention with exposure to a cue-reminder and a control group receiving the intervention without such cue.Results: Six studies were eligible for inclusion. The studies differed in sample and research design, and how the cue-reminder was applied. One study demonstrated a positive and small effect, and one study found a negative medium effect of the cue-reminder. In the remaining studies, the effect sizes were positive but non-significant.Discussion: It is unclear whether complementing health-risk behavior interventions with cue-reminders increases the effectiveness of these interventions. Further investigation and experimentation into the efficiency and effectiveness of cue-reminders is needed before health-risk behavior interventions are complemented with cue-reminders

Non-smoking adolescents' perceptions of dissuasive cigarettes

Introduction Dissuasive cigarettes, cigarettes with an unappealing colour or displaying a health warning label, may deter young people from smoking uptake. Methods Two online surveys were conducted with non-smokers aged 12–17 to explore perceptions of cigarette appeal, harm and product trial. Study 1 was a within-subject study which examined perceptions of four cigarettes with different coloured paper, and four cigarettes displaying a warning. Study 2 was a between-subject study (with limited power), in which respondents were randomized to one of four cigarettes: (1) regular cigarette; (2) least favourable warning from Study 1; (3) least favourable colour from Study 1; or (4) a combination of the least favourable warning and colour from Study 1. Warnings or colours were considered least favourable when they had lower scores on appeal, harm, and product trial. Results In Study 1, a cigarette featuring the warning ‘cancer, heart disease, stroke’ and a drab dark brown cigarette were rated lowest on appeal and trial intentions, and highest on perceived harm. In Study 2, there were no significant differences in perceptions of appeal, harm or trial intentions between the regular and dissuasive cigarettes. Conclusions Findings from our within-subject study suggest that a cigarette displaying the text ‘cancer, heart disease, stroke’ and a drab dark brown coloured cigarette are most dissuasive for Dutch non-smoking adolescents. Whether dissuasive cigarettes reduce appeal, reduce product trial, or increase perceptions of harm compared to a regular cigarette should be further examined in larger between-subject studies

Is web interviewing a good alternative to telephone interviewing? Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Netherlands Survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Web interviewing is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, because it has several advantages over telephone interviewing such as lower costs and shorter fieldwork periods. However, there are also concerns about data quality of web surveys. The aim of this study was to compare the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Netherlands web and telephone samples on demographic and smoking related variables to assess differences in data quality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Wave 1 of the ITC Netherlands Survey was completed by 1,668 web respondents and 404 telephone respondents of 18 years and older. The two surveys were conducted in parallel among adults who reported smoking at least monthly and had smoked at least 100 cigarettes over their lifetime.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both the web and telephone survey had a cooperation rate of 78%. Web respondents with a fixed line telephone were significantly more often married, had a lower educational level, and were older than web respondents without a fixed line telephone. Telephone respondents with internet access were significantly more often married, had a higher educational level, and were younger than telephone respondents without internet. Web respondents were significantly less often married and lower educated than the Dutch population of smokers. Telephone respondents were significantly less often married and higher educated than the Dutch population of smokers. Web respondents used the "don't know" options more often than telephone respondents. Telephone respondents were somewhat more negative about smoking, had less intention to quit smoking, and had more self efficacy for quitting. The known association between educational level and self efficacy was present only in the web survey.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Differences between the web and telephone sample were present, but the differences were small and not consistently favourable for either web or telephone interviewing. Our study findings suggested sometimes a better data quality in the web than in the telephone survey. Therefore, web interviewing can be a good alternative to telephone interviewing.</p

Smoke-free school policies in Europe: Challenges for the future

Scholars commonly plea for the development and evaluation of new tobacco control interventions to further decrease smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. We, in addition, emphasize there is still much that can be done to improve the impact of current tobacco control interventions. This commentary makes a specific case for improving the implementation of smoke-free school policies across Europe

Assessing the cross-cultural applicability of tailored advertising

This study compares the effectiveness of tailored advertising in two European Union member states: a longstanding member with a long history of advertising, the Netherlands; and a new member with a shorter advertising tradition, Poland. The positive effects of tailored advertising are hypothesised to be stronger among Polish consumers than among Dutch consumers because of the different advertising traditions in these two countries. A between-subjects experiment is conducted to test individuals’ responses to tailored versus generic advertisements for an unknown face-cream brand. The results show that tailoring is effective in influencing message attitudes, brand attitudes and purchase intentions, but only for Polish consumers. This tailoring effect is mediated by involvement with the message, message relevance and scepticism about the message. These findings suggest that tailored advertising can be used successfully in less marketing-savvy countries such as Poland, but that it may not be effective in more marketing-savvy countries such as the Netherlands