Enhancing Source Credibility in Tobacco Regulatory Communications
Condition: Cigarette Smoking Behavior
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will assess the impact of cigarette constituent messages with and without FDA
      source and quit information in a randomized controlled trial. The investigators hypothesize
      that cigarette constituent messages will increase intention to quit compared to messages
      about littering cigarettes (the control). The investigators also hypothesize that constituent
      messages that include FDA source and quit information will increase intention to quit
      compared to messages without that information.
    

Detailed description: 
      The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act delegates the U.S. Food and Drug
      Administration (FDA) to communicate the risks of smoking to the public, among other tobacco
      regulatory responsibilities. Little research exists about how FDA, as a regulatory agency,
      should develop and deliver these messages, and whether they should include their source
      information on the ads. This study will assess the impact of cigarette constituent messages
      with and without FDA source and quit information in a randomized controlled trial.

      Recruitment: People interested in participating will complete an online screener. Study staff
      will invite people eligible based on the screener to enroll in the study.

      Informed Consent: The consent form will be shared with people who are eligible based on the
      screener in the invitation email. At the beginning of the baseline survey, participants will
      again review the consent form and will be asked to provide consent in order to enroll in the
      study.

      Randomization: At the end of the baseline survey, survey software will randomly assign
      participants to one of the three study arms. Participants will have an equal chance of being
      randomized to each study arm.

      Assessment: Participants will complete 18 computer based surveys during the study. The first
      baseline survey will take around 20 minutes to complete on day 0. Participants will then
      receive a survey each morning for days 1-15 that will include behavior measures as well as
      their assigned study intervention. These surveys will take approximately 5 minutes to
      complete. Participants will then complete a 20-minute survey on day 16, and day 32.

      Detailed description of the intervention: Participants will receive an email with a link to a
      survey each morning for 15 days. During that survey they will be shown one message from their
      condition. Each condition has 5 messages that will be repeated 3 times in a counterbalanced
      order. Study investigators designed the messages.
    

Intervention name(s): Constituent message with FDA and quitline; Constituent message without FDA and quitline; Littering message (Control)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Messages about the chemical constituents of cigarette smoke will include text about chemicals in cigarette smoke and health effects of the chemicals, and an image of a person related to the health effect. This arm will also include an FDA logo, and information about the benefits of quitting smoking and the quitline. Each condition has 5 messages that will be repeated 3 times in a counterbalanced order. Study investigators used text developed by investigators associated with our Center for Regulatory Research on Tobacco Communication. Design of these messages was developed by our team.; Messages about the chemical constituents of cigarette smoke will include text about chemicals in cigarette smoke and health effects of the chemicals, and an image of a person related to the health effect. This arm is identical to the arm above, except that it does not include FDA source or quit information. Each condition has 5 messages that will be repeated 3 times in a counterbalanced order. Study investigators used text developed by investigators associated with our Center for Regulatory Research on Tobacco Communication. Design of these messages was developed by our team.; Messages about littering cigarettes will include text designed to discourage people from littering their cigarette butts, and an image related to the message. Each condition has 5 messages that will be repeated 3 times in a counterbalanced order. Study investigators used text developed by investigators associated with our Center for Regulatory Research on Tobacco Communication. Design of these messages was developed by our team.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention