Article

The impact of including cessation resource information on health warnings on standardized tobacco packaging on awareness and use: A longitudinal online survey in the United Kingdom

Details

Citation

Moodie C, Best C, Critchlow N, Stead M, McNeill A & Hitchman S (2021) The impact of including cessation resource information on health warnings on standardized tobacco packaging on awareness and use: A longitudinal online survey in the United Kingdom. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 23 (6), pp. 1068-1073. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa251

Abstract
Introduction Since May 2017, all cigarettes and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco in the UK must be sold in standardised packs with pictorial warnings displaying, for the first time, a stop-smoking website. Methods Data comes from three waves of a longitudinal online survey with smokers and ex-smokers conducted pre- and post-standardised packaging, with Wave 1 (W1) in April-May 2016, Wave 2 (W2) in October-November 2017, and Wave 3 (W3) in May-June 2019. Only smokers are included in the analysis: W1 (N=6233), W2 (N=3629) and W3 (N=2412). We explored any change in citing warnings on packs as a source of information about a stop-smoking website, and whether citing warnings as a source was associated with use of a stop-smoking website. As the warnings, and therefore the stop-smoking website, are larger on RYO packs than on cigarette packs due to the larger pack size, we explored differences in awareness of a stop-smoking website among exclusive cigarette smokers (W1=3142, W2=1884, W3=1247) and exclusive RYO smokers (W1=2046, W2=1119, W3=814). Results Among smokers recalling seeing information about a stop-smoking website, citing warnings as a source increased between waves (W1=14.0%, W2=24.2%, W3=25.1%) and was associated with having visited a stop-smoking website (OR=11.81, 95% CI 8.47-16.46). Citing warnings as a source of a stop-smoking website increased among exclusive RYO smokers at each wave (W1=15.5%, W2=26.3%, W3=32.1%), while for exclusive cigarette smokers it only increased at W2 (W1=10.5%, W2=22.4%, W3=19.9%). Conclusions Warnings are an important source of cessation resource information. Making this information more prominent may help sustain awareness. Implications The findings support the inclusion of a stop-smoking website on warnings as awareness among smokers increased and citing warnings as a source of information about a stop-smoking website was associated with having visited a stop-smoking website. We also explored whether the stop-smoking website on warnings on RYO packs, which is larger than on cigarette packs as a function of the larger size of RYO packs, would have any impact on awareness of this information. That exclusive RYO smokers were more likely than exclusive cigarette smokers to notice a stop-smoking website on warnings suggests that this information should be more prominent.

Keywords
smoking; tobacco; cigarettes; wave - physical agent; smokers; ex-smokers

Journal
Nicotine and Tobacco Research: Volume 23, Issue 6

StatusPublished
FundersCancer Research UK and National Institute for Health Research
Publication date30/06/2021
Publication date online30/11/2020
Date accepted by journal25/11/2020
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/32098
ISSN1462-2203
eISSN1469-994X

People (3)

Dr Catherine Best

Dr Catherine Best

Associate Professor, Institute for Social Marketing

Dr Nathan Critchlow

Dr Nathan Critchlow

Research Fellow, Institute for Social Marketing

Professor Crawford Moodie

Professor Crawford Moodie

Professor, Institute for Social Marketing