Smokers with children with asthma: Parental perceptions about prototype intervention messages focused on reducing child tobacco exposure and use

Abstract

Formative research is needed to develop effective interventions that eliminate secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) and prevent tobacco use (TU) among children with asthma. This online study included 300 parents who smoke and had a child with asthma (ages 10-14) and evaluated their perceptions about prototypes of parent-directed and child-directed feedback intervention messages focused on reducing child SHSe and future TU; correlates of perceptions were explored. Parents rated examples of parent-directed messages on motivation and helpfulness for eliminating SHSe and promoting conversations about TU and also rated child-directed messages on acceptability and helpfulness for promoting conversations about TU. Messages differed by level of personalization, theoretical background, or message content. Parents found all parent-directed messages similarly motivating and helpful and all child-directed messages similarly acceptable and helpful for reducing child tobacco exposure. Differences in perceptions about feedback emerged based on parent gender, parent readiness to quit, smoking ban status, and the presence of additional smokers in the home. Overall, parents rated parent-directed and child-directed feedback message prototypes positively, including established and novel types of feedback. Parent-child feedback interventions may hold promise for breaking the intergenerational transmission of smoking among families with a parent who smokes and a child with asthma.

Will E-Cigarette Modified Risk Messages with a Nicotine Warning Polarize Smokers’ Beliefs about the Efficacy of Switching Completely to E-Cigarettes in Reducing Smoking-Related Risks?

“…The sample also had a small number of former smokers who had consumed at least 100 cigarettes in their life and had quit smoking in the past two years. Similar to previous tobacco communication and behavior research [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ], we recruited participants from Toluna, a commercial research company. Toluna has “the worlds’ largest online social voting community” (p. 1) [ 56 ], with more than 36 million registered participants available for various types of online surveys around the world.…”