Fryer Craig S, Seaman Elizabeth L, Clark Rachael S, Plano Clark Vicki L
Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
Maryland Center for Health Equity, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Aug 25;12(8):e0183471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183471. eCollection 2017.
Tobacco use among young people is a complex and serious global dilemma that demands innovative and diverse research approaches. The purpose of this methodological review was to examine the current use of mixed methods research in tobacco control with youth and young adult populations and to develop practical recommendations for tobacco control researchers interested in this methodology.
Using PubMed, we searched five peer-reviewed journals that publish tobacco control empirical literature for the use of mixed methods research to study young populations, age 12-25 years. Our team analyzed the features of each article in terms of tobacco control topic, population, youth engagement strategies, and several essential elements of mixed methods research.
We identified 23 mixed methods studies published by authors from five different countries reported between 2004 and 2015. These 23 articles examined various topics that included tobacco use behavior, tobacco marketing and branding, and cessation among youth and young adults. The most common mixed methods approach was variations of the concurrent design in which the qualitative and quantitative strands were administered at the same time and given equal priority. This review documented several innovative applications of mixed methods research as well as challenges in the reporting of the complex research designs.
The use of mixed methods research in tobacco control has great potential for advancing the understanding of complex behavioral and sociocultural issues for all groups, especially youth and young adults.
年轻人吸烟是一个复杂且严重的全球性难题，需要创新且多样的研究方法。本方法学综述的目的是审视混合方法研究在针对青少年和青年人群的烟草控制中的当前应用情况，并为对该方法感兴趣的烟草控制研究人员提出实用建议。
我们利用PubMed在五份发表烟草控制实证文献的同行评审期刊中搜索，查找使用混合方法研究12至25岁年轻人群的文献。我们的团队从烟草控制主题、人群、青年参与策略以及混合方法研究的几个关键要素方面分析了每篇文章的特征。
我们识别出2004年至2015年间由来自五个不同国家的作者发表的23项混合方法研究。这23篇文章探讨了各种主题，包括青少年和青年的吸烟行为、烟草营销与品牌推广以及戒烟。最常见的混合方法是并行设计的变体，即定性和定量部分同时进行且同等重要。本综述记录了混合方法研究的一些创新应用以及复杂研究设计报告中的挑战。
在烟草控制中使用混合方法研究对于增进对所有群体，尤其是青少年和青年的复杂行为及社会文化问题的理解具有巨大潜力。
