Anti-smoking Messages for Smoking Cessation

No longer recruiting at 1 trial location

Overseen By Di Pei, Ph.D.

Age: 18 - 65

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Georgia State University

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 2

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial tests different anti-smoking messages to determine which are most effective for young adults in China. Researchers aim to understand how these messages can help reduce smoking rates among individuals aged 18-25. Participants will view messages on topics such as tobacco industry tactics, health effects of smoking, secondhand smoke, mental health, and social acceptability. Eligible participants should live in China and either be current smokers or nonsmokers who understand Mandarin Chinese. As an unphased trial, this study provides a unique opportunity to contribute to important research that could shape future anti-smoking campaigns.

Will I have to stop taking my current medications?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications.

Is there any evidence suggesting that this trial's treatments are likely to be safe?

A previous study found that clear anti-smoking messages about the tobacco industry's manipulation had positive effects. When people understood these messages, they felt more confident about not smoking. Research has shown that awareness of secondhand smoke is crucial, as no safe level of exposure exists. Millions of nonsmokers have died from issues caused by secondhand smoke. Messages explaining the health risks of smoking can encourage quitting, which can lead to long-term health benefits similar to those of never-smokers. For mental health, quitting smoking does not worsen mental health and may even reduce depression. Additionally, messages about the social perception of smoking show promise. Studies indicate that using social media to aid smoking cessation is both feasible and well-received by young adults. These findings suggest that well-crafted and targeted anti-smoking messages are generally safe and can effectively support quitting efforts. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about these anti-smoking messages because they tackle smoking cessation in a unique and psychological way. Unlike traditional treatments like nicotine replacement therapy or prescription medications, these messages aim to change perceptions and behaviors by highlighting tobacco industry manipulation, the dangers of secondhand smoke, health impacts, mental health effects, and the social unacceptability of smoking. By directly addressing the motivations and social factors that influence smoking habits, this approach offers a fresh angle that could complement existing methods and help more people quit smoking effectively.

What evidence suggests that this trial's anti-smoking messages could be effective for smoking cessation?

This trial will evaluate the effectiveness of various anti-smoking messages. Participants in different arms will receive specific messages:

- The "Tobacco industry manipulation" arm will receive messages about how the tobacco industry uses targeted marketing and manipulative tactics aimed at youth and young adults. Research has shown these messages can increase individuals' confidence in resisting smoking.

- The "Secondhand smoke" arm will receive messages about secondhand smoke exposure, which have been linked to reduced smoking at home.

- The "Health effects" arm will receive messages about smoking-related diseases, which can sometimes double the number of people who quit.

- The "Mental Health" arm will receive messages about the effects of smoking on mental health, linked to more attempts to stop smoking.

- The "Social acceptability" arm will receive messages portraying smoking as socially unacceptable, which can help people stay smoke-free and avoid relapse.

Each of these message types has proven effective in encouraging different groups to quit smoking. The control arm will receive messages about bottled water, which should not impact the outcomes of interest. ^{2 6 7 8 9}

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for Chinese young adults who are either smokers or non-smokers. It aims to find effective ways to communicate anti-smoking messages, considering the high number of young adult smokers in China and their susceptibility to tobacco industry marketing.

Inclusion Criteria

Can read, speak, and understand Mandarin Chinese

Current residency in China

Nonsmokers - having not smoked 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and do not currently smoke cigarettes

Exclusion Criteria

Not applicable.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

1 week

Online consent form

Session 1

Participants complete a 20-minute survey assessing demographics and are exposed to anti-smoking messages

1 week

1 online session

Session 2

Two weeks after session 1, participants complete a 5-minute survey to measure recall of messages and smoking behaviors

2 weeks

1 online session

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for changes in smoking behavior and intention to use tobacco

2 weeks

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• Anti-smoking Messages

Trial Overview The study tests different themes of anti-smoking messages: health effects, secondhand smoke, mental health concerns, tobacco industry manipulation, and social acceptability. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of these message conditions or a control group without any specific messaging.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: Tobacco industry manipulation Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages with information about how the tobacco industry uses targeted marketing and manipulative tactics aimed at youth and young adults.

Group II: Social acceptability Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages that portray smoking as socially unacceptable in China.

Group III: Secondhand smoke Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages with information about secondhand smoke exposure.

Group IV: Mental Health Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages with information about the effects of smoking on mental health.

Group V: Health effects Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages with information about smoking-related diseases.

Group VI: Control Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants will receive messages about bottled water which should have no impact on the outcomes of interest.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Georgia State University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

71

Recruited

33,600+

Published Research Related to This Trial

A new standardized strategy for reporting adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs) in substance use disorder (SUD) clinical trials was developed, which aims to reduce the reporting burden while maintaining safety monitoring.

In a review of 17 SUD trials involving 6737 participants, the new strategy showed a significant reduction in irrelevant safety event reporting, leading to a more consistent safety assessment system tailored to the risks associated with specific trial interventions.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Strategies for safety reporting in substance abuse trials. Lindblad, R., Campanella, M., Styers, D., et al.[2013]

The Safety Agenda Mobile App (SAMA) was developed to assist health managers in overseeing patient safety responsibilities, featuring 37 predefined tasks that can be customized and shared with their teams.

In a trial with 74 health managers, 86% provided positive feedback on SAMA's utility, and the app has been downloaded by 238 users, earning the AppSaludable Quality Seal for its quality and effectiveness in promoting patient safety awareness.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Design and Testing of the Safety Agenda Mobile App for Managing Health Care Managers' Patient Safety Responsibilities. Mira, JJ., Carrillo, I., Fernandez, C., et al.[2021]

In a randomized controlled trial involving 2,099 smokers, video computer tailoring significantly increased 7-day point prevalence abstinence compared to a control group, with an odds ratio of 1.45, indicating its effectiveness in promoting smoking cessation.

Video computer tailoring was particularly beneficial for smokers with a low readiness to quit, achieving a remarkable odds ratio of 5.13 for prolonged abstinence, suggesting that personalized video messages can effectively motivate smokers who are less prepared to quit.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Comparison of text and video computer-tailored interventions for smoking cessation: randomized controlled trial. Stanczyk, N., Bolman, C., van Adrichem, M., et al.[2022]

The SMART Safety dataset is the largest collection of empirical data on adverse events in healthcare, comprising 151 systematic reviews and 629 meta-analyses, which enhances the understanding of safety outcomes in randomized controlled trials.

This dataset, which includes over 2,300 trials and 362 harm outcomes, has been rigorously validated to ensure high data quality, providing a valuable resource for addressing rare adverse events and biases in evidence synthesis.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The SMART Safety: An empirical dataset for evidence synthesis of adverse events. Fan, S., Yu, T., Yang, X., et al.[2023]

Exposure to emotional and graphic antismoking advertisements significantly increases the likelihood of quit attempts among adult smokers, as shown in a study of 8,780 smokers in New York State from 2003 to 2010.

Advertisements that do not evoke strong negative emotions or use graphic images do not have any effect on smokers' attempts to quit, highlighting the importance of impactful messaging in antismoking campaigns.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Promotion of smoking cessation with emotional and/or graphic antismoking advertising. Farrelly, MC., Duke, JC., Davis, KC., et al.[2022]

Over a 20-year period, 1520 significant adverse drug event (ADE) case reports were analyzed, revealing that while key patient and drug variables were often reported, causality assessments were rarely included, with less than 1% of reports providing an objective evaluation.

The study suggests that medical journals should implement stricter guidelines for publishing ADE reports, including mandatory objective assessments of causality to enhance the reliability and usefulness of the information provided.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The quality of published adverse drug event reports. Kelly, WN.[2022]

Citations

1. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9293135/

Effectiveness of an optimized text message and Internet ... To evaluate the effectiveness of a combined internet and text message intervention for smoking cessation compared with an internet intervention alone.

2. nature.com nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02295-2

Efficacy of digital interventions for smoking cessation by ... Interactive SMS interventions more than doubled quit rates (RR 2.14, 95% CI 1.29–3.55; moderate-quality evidence). Interactive apps had an RR of ...

3. bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-023-03073-5

Effects of a text messaging smoking cessation intervention ... Access to a 12-week text messaging intervention produced higher self-reported smoking abstinence at 3 and 6 months post-randomisation amongst ...

4. cdc.gov cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/about/impact/campaign-impact-results.html

Tips Impact and Results | About the Campaign Tips Campaign Impact ; greater intentions to quit. ; lower odds of relapse to cigarette smoking. ; prevent an estimated 129,000 early deaths and helped save an ...

5. tobaccoinduceddiseases.org tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Exploring-the-impact-of-efficacy-messages-on-cessation-related-noutcomes-using-Ecological,94460,0,2.html

Exploring the impact of efficacy messages on cessation ... The preliminary findings from this pilot study suggest that efficacy messages promote determinants of cessation. These findings warrant further assessment in ...

6. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6804292/

Mobile phone text messaging and app‐based interventions for ... The text messages provided encouragement, practical advice to help maintain cessation, and information on the health effects of smoking. Low‐frequency text ...

7. truthinitiative.org truthinitiative.org/research-resources/quitting-smoking-vaping/quitting-tobacco-facts-and-stats

Quitting Tobacco: Facts and Stats Those who quit smoking appeared to have similar long-term health outcomes to nonsmokers.

8. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743524002111

Associations of educational and marketing messages with ... We examined associations between existing messages about nicotine or tobacco and beliefs about nicotine and reduced nicotine cigarettes (RNC).

9. journals.lww.com journals.lww.com/mhhb/fulltext/2023/28020/comparative_evaluation_of_the_effect_of_loss__and.3.aspx

Comparative Evaluation of the Effect of Loss- and Gain- ... The current systematic review aimed to compare the available literature on the effect of loss- and gain-framed tobacco cessation messages on smoking behavior.