Motivating smoking reductions by framing health information as safer smoking tips

Abstract

Explored the hypothesis that framing health information as safer smoking tips might motivate change in cigarette smokers. Daily smokers were randomly assigned to a control condition or to an intervention condition in which respondents were asked if they knew about a range of different safer smoking tips. Respondents (43 daily smokers, 18 years or older, 58% male) who received safer smoking tips reported a small reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked (p=.05) by the 3-month follow-up as compared to respondents in the control condition. This pilot result is encouraging but requires replication before considering the value of including safer smoking tips in health messages for smokers in the general population.