This study will examine the effectiveness of a social norms campaign in correcting smoking misperceptions, reducing smoking susceptibility and changing smoking-related behaviours in Hong Kong adolescents.
The study involves a behavioural intervention with social norms approaches to correct smoking misperceptions, reduce smoking susceptibility and change smoking-related behaviours in Hong Kong adolescents. A 2-arm stratified clustered randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. A total of 18 secondary schools will be randomly selected from the 5 regions in Hong Kong and invited to the RCT. The schools will then be randomly allocated to intervention or control group in the ratio of 1:1. Secondary 1 to 5 (US Grade 7 to 11) students will be invited. Students in both intervention and control group will complete a baseline survey, and the intervention group will receive the intervention after the baseline. Intervention materials includes posters and table tents at school, flyers to students, and online banner on school website. The intervention adopts social norms approaches, and will highlight the prevalence of adolescents who do not smoke and have no intention to smoke. It will last for 2 months. Both intervention and control groups will complete follow-up surveys at 3 and 9 months. The control group will receive the intervention materials after the RCT.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
12,868
Intervention messages will mainly highlight the prevalence of Hong Kong adolescents who do not smoke cigarettes and have no intention to smoke cigarettes. The messages will be conveyed to students through posters, table tents, flyers and an online banner. Posters will be posted at prominent places in schools, table tents will be placed in school canteens, flyers will be distributed to students, and the online banner will be placed at the school website. The intervention will last for 2 months.
Local secondary schools
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Perceived adolescent smoking prevalence
Perceived prevalence of current smoking secondary school students in Hong Kong
Time frame: At the time of survey
Smoking susceptibility
Intention to smoke in the next 12 months, if good friends are smoking in front, and if a good friend offered a cigarette
Time frame: At the time of survey
Smoking intensity
Number of smoking days in the past 30 days, average daily cigarette consumption
Time frame: Past 30 days
Intention to quit
Intention to quit
Time frame: At the time of survey
Quit attempts
Number of quit attempts
Time frame: Past 3 months
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