The 2016 Tips From Former Smokers® Campaign: Associations With Quit Intentions and Quit Attempts Among Smokers With and Without Mental Health Conditions

Judith J Prochaska; Emily F Gates; Kevin C Davis; Karen Gutierrez; Yvonne Prutzman; Robert Rodes

doi:10.1093/ntr/nty241

The 2016 Tips From Former Smokers® Campaign: Associations With Quit Intentions and Quit Attempts Among Smokers With and Without Mental Health Conditions

Nicotine Tob Res. 2019 Apr 17;21(5):576-583. doi: 10.1093/ntr/nty241.

Authors

Judith J Prochaska¹, Emily F Gates², Kevin C Davis³, Karen Gutierrez⁴, Yvonne Prutzman⁵, Robert Rodes⁶

Affiliations

¹ Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
² Department of Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, & Assessment, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.
³ Center for Health Policy Science and Tobacco Research, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC.
⁴ McKing Consulting, Fairfax, VA.
⁵ Tobacco Control Research Branch, Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD.
⁶ Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.

Abstract

Introduction: People living with mental health conditions (MH+) are more likely to smoke cigarettes than people without mental health conditions (MH-) and to experience tobacco-related disparities. The Tips From Former Smokers® (Tips®) campaign is a proven population-level strategy for motivating smokers to quit. In 2016, Tips included ads featuring Rebecca, a former smoker with depression. We evaluated self-reported frequency of exposure to the Rebecca and other Tips ads in association with quit intentions and quit attempts among MH+ and MH- smokers.

Methods: Intentions to quit and past 6-month quit attempts lasting at least 24 hours were reported from a two-wave longitudinal online survey conducted before and after the 2016 Tips campaign with a nationally representative sample of US adult cigarette smokers with (MH+, N = 777) and without (MH-, N = 1806) lifetime mental health conditions.

Results: In 2016, among MH+ respondents, greater exposure to the Rebecca ads was significantly associated with increased odds of intending to quit in the next 30 days (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.40, p < .05) and with reporting a quit attempt in the past 6 months (AOR = 1.25, p < .05). Among MH- respondents, greater exposure to the other Tips ads was associated with increased odds of making a quit attempt (AOR = 1.19, p < .05).

Conclusions: Exposure to the Rebecca ads was associated with a greater likelihood of intentions to quit and quit attempts among MH+ smokers; whereas, exposure to the other (non-mental-health-related) Tips ads was associated with a greater likelihood of quit attempts among MH- smokers.

Implications: National media campaigns are an important population-level strategy for reaching specific population groups who are experiencing tobacco-related disparities. The findings support the inclusion of ads featuring people living with mental health conditions in national tobacco education media campaigns, such as Tips.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2018.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Advertising* / methods
Female
Humans
Intention*
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mental Disorders / epidemiology
Mental Disorders / psychology*
Mental Disorders / therapy
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Motivation / physiology
Smokers / psychology*
Smoking / epidemiology
Smoking / psychology*
Smoking / therapy
Smoking Cessation / methods
Smoking Cessation / psychology*
Young Adult