Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2024 Jan 1;26(1):87-93. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntad155.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed rulemaking to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products to non-addictive levels. This qualitative study documents reactions to messages communicating this policy among people who use little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs).
We conducted eight focus groups with participants from four populations with the highest prevalence of cigar use (African American males and females, white males and females). Participants described their reactions to eight messages about the policy: Three messages about the equal risk of LCCs with regular and low nicotine levels; three quit efficacy messages about low nicotine LCCs being easier to quit; one "compensation" message to correct misperceptions about the policy causing people to smoke more to get desired nicotine; and one message about using alternative nicotine sources (eg, e-cigarettes).
Participants perceived risk messages as the most motivating to quit, whereas efficacy messages made some participants feel that the policy would cause former users of LCCs to relapse. Many participants expressed favorable responses to the compensation message. The message about using alternative nicotine sources sparked intense responses, with many participants expressing outrage and mistrust of the message. Participants' beliefs that they were not addicted to LCCs dampened their perceptions of the effectiveness of the policy.
Perceptions of the addictiveness and relative harms of LCCS influenced responses to policy messages. The FDA should consider using different messages to communicate with people who use LCCs because they perceive LCCs as different from cigarettes.
This is the first study to document affective and cognitive responses to the FDA's reduced nicotine policy among people who use LCCs. The false belief that cigar products are less harmful than cigarettes may be influencing people's lack of support for the reduced nicotine policy and difficulty in understanding its potential positive impact. To maximize the public health benefit of the reduced nicotine policy, the FDA should include LCC products in the policy; however, it is crucial that they use educational messaging to clarify misperceptions regarding nicotine and harm as it applies to LCCs.
美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）提议制定法规，将香烟和其他燃烧烟草产品中的尼古丁含量降低到非成瘾水平。这项定性研究记录了人们对传达这一政策的信息的反应，这些人使用小雪茄和小雪茄（LCCs）。
我们在四个雪茄烟使用率最高的人群中进行了八组焦点小组（非裔美国男性和女性、白种男性和女性）。参与者描述了他们对八项政策信息的反应：三条关于 LCC 与常规和低尼古丁水平同等风险的信息；三条关于低尼古丁 LCC 更易戒烟的功效信息；一条“补偿”信息，纠正因政策导致人们吸烟更多以获得所需尼古丁的误解；一条关于使用替代尼古丁来源（如电子烟）的信息。
参与者认为风险信息最能激发戒烟的动力，而功效信息使一些参与者感到该政策会导致以前使用 LCC 的人复发。许多参与者对补偿信息表示赞赏。关于使用替代尼古丁来源的信息引发了强烈的反应，许多参与者对此表示愤怒和不信任。参与者认为他们没有上瘾 LCC，这削弱了他们对政策有效性的看法。
对 LCCs 的成瘾性和相对危害的看法影响了对政策信息的反应。美国食品和药物管理局应考虑使用不同的信息与使用 LCC 的人进行沟通，因为他们认为 LCCs 与香烟不同。
这是第一项记录 FDA 降低尼古丁政策对使用 LCC 的人产生的情感和认知反应的研究。认为雪茄产品比香烟危害小的错误信念可能会影响人们对降低尼古丁政策的支持程度，也可能使他们难以理解其潜在的积极影响。为了最大限度地发挥降低尼古丁政策的公共卫生效益，美国食品和药物管理局应将 LCC 产品纳入该政策；然而，至关重要的是，他们应使用教育信息来澄清对尼古丁和危害的误解，因为这适用于 LCCs。
