Roberts Megan E, Alexander Brittany, Davis Jade
College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, 1841 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
J Community Health. 2025 Jun 9. doi: 10.1007/s10900-025-01490-6.
The tobacco retailer environment (TRE) harms communities, but the implementation of policies to address it have been slow and uneven and receive tepid public support.
To test whether a smartphone app's photo-mapping activity could raise community awareness of the TRE.
This was a non-randomized study with a pre-post design. For three weeks, 75 university students engaged with the app, which incentivized participants to submit photos of significant aspects of tobacco in their environments (e.g., tobacco litter, tobacco retailers). Surveys administered before and after the app period assessed tobacco- and policy-related perceptions.
Repeated-measures analyses indicated that, over the course of the study, participants increased in their awareness of tobacco advertising, awareness of tobacco litter, anti-tobacco industry attitudes, and support for an outdoor tobacco-free campus policy. Those most engaged in the study (as indicated by the total number of photo submissions) also increased in their attitudes about there being too many tobacco retailers.
Overall, findings suggest an app-based, photo-mapping activity could be an innovative means of directing people's attention to the impact of the tobacco industry in their local community. Such activities could help increase public support for tobacco retailer licensing and other TRE-focused policies.
烟草零售环境（TRE）对社区造成危害，但解决该问题的政策实施缓慢且不均衡，公众支持度也不高。
测试一款智能手机应用程序的照片映射活动是否能提高社区对烟草零售环境的认识。
这是一项采用前后设计的非随机研究。在三周时间里，75名大学生使用了该应用程序，该程序激励参与者提交其周围环境中烟草重要方面的照片（例如，烟草垃圾、烟草零售商）。在应用程序使用期前后进行的调查评估了与烟草和政策相关的认知。
重复测量分析表明，在研究过程中，参与者对烟草广告的认识、对烟草垃圾的认识、反烟草行业态度以及对户外无烟校园政策的支持度均有所提高。参与度最高的参与者（以照片提交总数衡量）对烟草零售商过多的看法也有所改变。
总体而言，研究结果表明基于应用程序的照片映射活动可能是一种创新方式，可引导人们关注烟草行业对其当地社区的影响。此类活动有助于提高公众对烟草零售商许可及其他以烟草零售环境为重点的政策的支持度。
