The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample

Objective Text and graphic warnings on cigarette packs focus on the negative consequences of smoking. Although some studies have shown that warning labels on cigarette packets to be effective for smoking cessation, smoker adolescents in Turkey have generally find ineffective these messages or have c...

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Main Authors: Rümeysa Biçer, Şule Kara, Simge Şişman-Bal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Publishing 2018-10-01
Series:Tobacco Induced Diseases
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.journalssystem.com/tid/,94758,0,2.html
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author Rümeysa Biçer
Şule Kara
Simge Şişman-Bal
author_facet Rümeysa Biçer
Şule Kara
Simge Şişman-Bal
author_sort Rümeysa Biçer
collection DOAJ
description Objective Text and graphic warnings on cigarette packs focus on the negative consequences of smoking. Although some studies have shown that warning labels on cigarette packets to be effective for smoking cessation, smoker adolescents in Turkey have generally find ineffective these messages or have changed their assessments according to the content. In this study, the impact of both punishment-based (e.g. ‘Smoking causes lung cancer’) and reward-based (e.g. ‘If you do not smoke, you will have a beautiful smile’) warnings on the intention to quit smoking was examined. Methods The sample of the study consisted of 22 undergraduate students from Istanbul University who have been smoking for the past 6 months. Participants filled out a brief information form about their smoking habits, followed by displayed a PowerPoint presentation with 20 images (10 punishment-based/10 reward-based) which they have never seen before randomly arranged on the computer screen. After each images, students were asked to respond the question of ‘Did you think that you should stop smoking?’ with a 5-point scale. Results The mean duration of smoking was 5.1 ± 3.3 years and the average number of cigarettes per day was 9.6 ± 7.8. Participants who smoke ≤10 cigarettes per day found punishment-based images more effective (p=.042) however participants who wanted to quit smoking within 6 months rated reward-based images more effective (p=.017). In addition, 90.9% of the participants reported that current warnings on cigarette packages had no effect on thinking of stopping smoking. Conclusions These results showed that in addition to punishment-based warnings some reward-based images can be used on cigarette packages in order to more motivate smokers to quit smoking.
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spelling doaj.art-a0ecddb465594a1995d379bbd56546592022-12-22T02:39:41ZengEuropean PublishingTobacco Induced Diseases1617-96252018-10-0116310.18332/tid/9475894758The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sampleRümeysa Biçer0Şule Kara1Simge Şişman-Bal2Independent Researcher, Hatay, TurkeyToxicology and Pharmaceutical Science, Institute on Drug Abuse, Ege University, Izmır, TurkeyDepartment of Psychology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, TurkeyObjective Text and graphic warnings on cigarette packs focus on the negative consequences of smoking. Although some studies have shown that warning labels on cigarette packets to be effective for smoking cessation, smoker adolescents in Turkey have generally find ineffective these messages or have changed their assessments according to the content. In this study, the impact of both punishment-based (e.g. ‘Smoking causes lung cancer’) and reward-based (e.g. ‘If you do not smoke, you will have a beautiful smile’) warnings on the intention to quit smoking was examined. Methods The sample of the study consisted of 22 undergraduate students from Istanbul University who have been smoking for the past 6 months. Participants filled out a brief information form about their smoking habits, followed by displayed a PowerPoint presentation with 20 images (10 punishment-based/10 reward-based) which they have never seen before randomly arranged on the computer screen. After each images, students were asked to respond the question of ‘Did you think that you should stop smoking?’ with a 5-point scale. Results The mean duration of smoking was 5.1 ± 3.3 years and the average number of cigarettes per day was 9.6 ± 7.8. Participants who smoke ≤10 cigarettes per day found punishment-based images more effective (p=.042) however participants who wanted to quit smoking within 6 months rated reward-based images more effective (p=.017). In addition, 90.9% of the participants reported that current warnings on cigarette packages had no effect on thinking of stopping smoking. Conclusions These results showed that in addition to punishment-based warnings some reward-based images can be used on cigarette packages in order to more motivate smokers to quit smoking.http://www.journalssystem.com/tid/,94758,0,2.htmlcigarette smokingtext and graphic warningsmoking cessationquit smokingstudent
spellingShingle Rümeysa Biçer
Şule Kara
Simge Şişman-Bal
The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
Tobacco Induced Diseases
cigarette smoking
text and graphic warning
smoking cessation
quit smoking
student
title The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
title_full The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
title_fullStr The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
title_full_unstemmed The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
title_short The effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking: Comparing punishment and reward based images in a Turkish university student sample
title_sort effectiveness of text and graphic warnings on cigarette packages on the intention to quit smoking comparing punishment and reward based images in a turkish university student sample
topic cigarette smoking
text and graphic warning
smoking cessation
quit smoking
student
url http://www.journalssystem.com/tid/,94758,0,2.html
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