Haines-Saah Rebecca J, Kelly Mary T, Oliffe John L, Bottorff Joan L
Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, Faculty of Health and Social Development, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
J Med Internet Res. 2015 Jan 26;17(1):e27. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4061.
Young adults have high rates of tobacco use compared to other subpopulations, yet there are relatively few tobacco interventions specifically targeted to this group. Picture Me Smokefree is an online tobacco reduction and cessation intervention for young adults that uses digital photography and social networking.
The main goal of the project was to determine the feasibility of engaging young adults in participating in user-driven, online forums intended to provide peer support and motivate critical reflection about tobacco use and cessation among this high-use, hard-to-reach population. A related aim was to explore the influence of gender-related factors on participation, in order to determine the need for online interventions to be tailored to the specific gender preferences reflecting young men and women's participation styles.
A total of 60 young adults ages 19-24 years who self-identified as current cigarette smokers or who had quit within the last year were recruited from across British Columbia, Canada, and participated in an online photo group on Facebook over a period of 12 consecutive weeks. A variety of data collection methods were used including tracking online activity, a brief online follow-up survey, and qualitative interviews with study participants. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics on recruitment, retention, and participation and qualitative (eg, narrative analysis, synthesis of feedback) feedback about participant engagement.
Findings from this study suggest good potential for Facebook as an accessible, low-cost platform for engaging young adults to reflect on the reasons for their tobacco use, the benefits of quitting or reducing, and the best strategies for tobacco reduction. Young adults' frequent use of mobile phones and other mobile devices to access social networking permitted ease of access and facilitated real-time peer-to-peer support across a diverse group of participants. However, our experience of conducting the study suggests that working with young tobacco users can be accompanied by considerable recruitment, participation, and retention challenges. Our findings also pointed to differences in how young women and men engaged the photo-group intervention that should be considered, bearing in mind that in follow-up interviews participants indicated their preference for a mixed gender and "gender neutral" group format.
Tobacco interventions for youth and young adults should be embedded within the existing social networking platforms they access most frequently, rather than designing a stand-alone online prevention or intervention resource. This subpopulation would likely benefit from tobacco reduction interventions that are gender-sensitive rather than gender-specific.
与其他亚人群相比，年轻成年人的烟草使用率较高，但专门针对该群体的烟草干预措施相对较少。“想象自己无烟”是一项针对年轻成年人的在线烟草减少和戒烟干预措施，它利用数码摄影和社交网络。
该项目的主要目标是确定让年轻成年人参与用户驱动的在线论坛的可行性，这些论坛旨在提供同伴支持，并促使这个高使用率、难以接触到的人群对烟草使用和戒烟进行批判性反思。一个相关目标是探讨性别相关因素对参与度的影响，以便确定是否需要根据反映年轻男性和女性参与方式的特定性别偏好来定制在线干预措施。
从加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省各地招募了60名年龄在19至24岁之间、自我认定为当前吸烟者或在过去一年内戒烟的年轻成年人，他们连续12周参与了脸书上的一个在线照片群组。使用了多种数据收集方法，包括跟踪在线活动、简短的在线后续调查以及对研究参与者的定性访谈。数据分析包括关于招募、留存和参与的描述性统计以及关于参与者参与度的定性（如叙事分析、反馈综合）反馈。
本研究结果表明，脸书作为一个便于使用、低成本的平台，有很大潜力让年轻成年人反思他们使用烟草的原因、戒烟或减少吸烟的益处以及减少吸烟的最佳策略。年轻成年人频繁使用手机和其他移动设备访问社交网络，便于参与且促进了不同参与者群体之间的实时同伴支持。然而，我们开展这项研究的经验表明，与年轻烟草使用者合作可能会面临相当大的招募、参与和留存挑战。我们的研究结果还指出，年轻女性和男性参与照片群组干预的方式存在差异，应予以考虑，同时要记住在后续访谈中参与者表示他们更喜欢混合性别和“性别中立”的群组形式。
针对青少年和年轻成年人的烟草干预措施应融入他们最常使用的现有社交网络平台中，而不是设计一个独立的在线预防或干预资源。这个亚人群可能会从对性别敏感而非针对性别的烟草减少干预措施中受益。
