Project RESIST: Evaluating the Effects of Anti-smoking Inoculation Messages Among Young Adult Sexual Minority Women

Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine2,591 enrolled

Overview

Project RESIST is an R01 study funded by NCI focused on determining the effects of using culturally tailored inoculation approaches to increase resilience to tobacco marketing influences among young adult sexual minority women ages 18-30 and incorporates critical stakeholder inputs that support later adoption and implementation. The study team is utilizing formative research to design and pre-test anti-smoking messages and two national longitudinal online survey experiments.

This study will recruit 3000 young adult sexual minority women (SMW), ages 18-30 years, current smokers (n = 1500) and not current smokers (n = 1500). The study will determine the effects of varying the dose (single vs. multiple), and latency (immediate vs. delayed) of showing participants inoculation anti-smoking messages on smoking and quitting intentions. The study team hypothesize that the multiple exposures (vs. single), and delayed exposure (vs. immediate) will be associated with increased resistance to marketing, reduced smoking intention, and increased quitting intention. The study team will further explore the mechanisms of inoculation effects through emotions, beliefs, and attitudes towards tobacco companies. Participants will be asked to complete a baseline survey and then will receive an anti-smoking message in varying dosages based on the condition they are assigned with a control group receiving no message. Participants will then see a pro-smoking or threat message immediately, one week, or one month late, depending on the condition they were assigned.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

2,591

Conditions

Cigarette Smoking Behavior

Interventions

Culturally Tailored Anti-Smoking MessagesOTHER

Anti-smoking messages will be administered online via a Qualtrics survey.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 30 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Ages 18-30 * Woman * Identifies as a sexual minority (any sexual orientation other than heterosexual) * Lives in the United States * Able to take surveys in English Exclusion Criteria: * Under 18 or older than 30 * Men * Heterosexual * Lives outside the United States * Unable to take the survey in English

Locations (1)

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Intention to Quit Smoking at Follow-up

We used a 4-item scale on intention to quit smoking at baseline and at follow-up (immediate, one-week and one-month) among current smokers only: 1. I will make an effort to quit smoking in the next 30 days; 2. I intend to quit smoking in the next 30 days; 3. I expect to quit smoking in the next 30 days; 4. How likely is it that you will quit smoking in the next 30 days. Responses ranged on 7-point Likert-like scales. Responses were summed to create a scale for intention to quit (range from 4-28), higher scores indicate higher intention to quit.

Time frame: Day [0] reported for No-message, single-message immediate, & 3-messages immediate conditions; Week [1] reported for Single-message & 3-messages 1-week delay conditions; Month [1] reported for Single-message & 3-messages 1-month delay conditions

Intention to Purchase Cigarettes

The Juster scale was used to measure intention to purchase cigarettes at baseline and at one-month follow-up. Participants were asked, "How likely are you to purchase cigarettes in the next 6 months?" Responses ranged from 0=No chance, almost no chance (1 in 100) to 10=Certain, practically certain (99 in 100). Higher values reflect higher intention to purchase.

Susceptibility to Smoke Cigarettes

Susceptibility to smoke cigarettes were measured using four-items: 1. Have you ever been curious about smoking a cigarette? 2. Do you think you will smoke a cigarette in the next year? 3. Do you think that you will try a cigarette soon? 4. If one of your best friends were to offer you a cigarette, would you smoke it? Responses ranged on 4-point Likert-like scales. Responses were summed to create a scale for susceptibility to smoke cigarettes (range from 0-12). This was only measured among participants who did not currently smoke. Higher scores indicate increased susceptibility to smoke cigarettes.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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Secondary Outcomes

Receptivity to Marketing

Receptivity to marketing was measured using 2 items: 1. Tobacco companies should have the same rights to advertise as other companies. 2. Are you open to using or wearing something with a tobacco company logo or picture on it? Response options range from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) The scale is a sum of the responses to these items, the scale ranges from 2 to 10, with lower scores indicating greater receptivity to marketing.

Tobacco Industry Attitudes

Tobacco industry attitudes were measured using 3 items: 1. I would like to see cigarette companies go out of business. 2. I would not work for a cigarette company. 3. How much do you like cigarette companies. Response options for items 1 and 2 were from 1 (Strongly agree) to 5 (Strongly disagree). Response options for item 3 were from 1 (Dislike strongly) to 5 (Like strongly). Response options were summed across these 3 items to create the tobacco industry attitudes scale. Values range from 3 to 15, with lower scores indicating stronger anti-industry sentiment.

Tobacco Industry Beliefs

Industry beliefs were measured using 4 items: Cigarette companies lie. Cigarette companies target teens to replace smokers who die. Cigarette companies deny that cigarettes cause cancer and other harmful diseases. Cigarette companies deny that cigarettes are addictive. Response options were from 1 (Strongly agree) to 5 (Strongly disagree). Responses were summed across these 4 items to create the tobacco industry beliefs scale. Values ranges from 4 to 20, with lower scores indicating stronger anti-industry sentiment.