Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Clinical Endoscopy Division, Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA, USA.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 Nov 12;24(12):1951-1958. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntac165.
Many people incorrectly think that very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes are less carcinogenic than current cigarettes. This risk misperception by people who smoke could reduce motivation to quit under a nicotine reduction policy. We qualitatively examined perspectives on campaign messages designed to reduce misperceptions.
Adults who smoke from North Carolina participated in online interviews. After being introduced to the idea of a VLNC policy, participants were shown VLNC messages and asked about their perceptions on the clarity, understandability, persuasiveness, and meaning of the messages. We conducted a thematic content analysis of the transcripts.
Thirty adults who smoke cigarettes participated (15 females, 13 males, 2 nonbinary) with a mean age of 43 years. Central themes that emerged were: (1) Confusion about the proposed VLNC cigarette policy affected how messages were interpreted; (2) Messages that promote self-efficacy for quitting rather than guilt or fear were better received; and (3) Direct and succinct messages were seen as more able to grab attention and inform people who smoke. Some participant concerns focused on whether VLNC cigarettes would relieve their nicotine cravings and whether they would need to smoke more VLNC cigarettes to feel satisfied.
Campaign messages to educate the public about the harmful effects of smoking VLNC cigarettes may be more effective if people who smoke are informed about the policy's rationale to understand why nicotine is removed rather than the other harmful chemicals. Messages should also acknowledge the difficulty of quitting and be short and direct to capture attention.
Adults who smoke have some confusion about nicotine reduction in cigarettes and this affects how they perceive potential communication campaign messages about the risk of smoking VLNC cigarettes. In our qualitative research, we found that adults who smoke prefer messages about VLNC cigarettes that acknowledge the challenge of quitting and that are direct and succinct. With further development, campaign messages may be able to reduce misperceptions about VLNC cigarettes and maximize the public health benefit of a nicotine reduction policy.
许多人错误地认为，极低尼古丁含量（VLNC）香烟的致癌性低于当前香烟。这种吸烟人群的风险误解可能会降低在尼古丁减少政策下戒烟的动机。我们定性地研究了旨在减少误解的宣传信息的观点。
来自北卡罗来纳州的成年吸烟者参与了在线访谈。在了解 VLNC 政策的想法后，参与者观看了 VLNC 信息，并被问及他们对信息的清晰度、可理解性、说服力和含义的看法。我们对记录的文本进行了主题内容分析。
30 名成年吸烟者（15 名女性，13 名男性，2 名非二元性别）参与了研究，平均年龄为 43 岁。出现的核心主题包括：（1）对拟议的 VLNC 香烟政策的困惑影响了对信息的解读；（2）促进戒烟自我效能而非内疚或恐惧的信息更容易被接受；（3）直接简洁的信息被认为更能吸引注意力并告知吸烟者。一些参与者关注的问题集中在 VLNC 香烟是否能缓解他们的尼古丁渴望，以及他们是否需要抽更多的 VLNC 香烟才能感到满足。
如果向吸烟者告知政策的基本原理，让他们了解为什么要去除尼古丁而不是其他有害化学物质，那么教育公众了解 VLNC 香烟吸烟危害的宣传信息可能会更有效。信息也应该承认戒烟的困难，并简短直接，以吸引注意力。
吸烟的成年人对香烟中的尼古丁减少有些困惑，这影响了他们对潜在的关于 VLNC 香烟风险的宣传活动信息的看法。在我们的定性研究中，我们发现吸烟的成年人更喜欢承认戒烟挑战的 VLNC 香烟信息，而且信息要直接和简洁。随着进一步的发展，宣传信息可能能够减少对 VLNC 香烟的误解，并最大限度地发挥尼古丁减少政策的公共卫生效益。
