Severity and susceptibility: measuring the perceived effectiveness and believability of tobacco health warnings.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pictorial tobacco health warning labels (HWLs) have been shown to be more effective than text-only HWLs in changing smoking attitudes and intentions. However, there is contradictory evidence regarding how the severity of the content of HWLs influences responses to them.

Methods

We examined the perceived believability and effectiveness of HWLs in an online study using a convenience sample of non-smokers (N = 437) and smokers (N = 436). HWLs were in one of three presentation formats: (text-only, a moderately severe image or highly severe image) and focussed on three disease outcomes (lung cancer, blindness or tooth and gum disease). Participants rated the effectiveness and believability of each HWL and also rated their perceived susceptibility to each disease.

Re

SUBMITTER: Maynard OM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5894175 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature