Evaluation of 'Shisha No Thanks' - a co-design social marketing campaign on the harms of waterpipe smoking

Lilian Chan; Nouhad El-Haddad; Becky Freeman; Ross MacKenzie; Lisa Woodland; Blythe J O'Hara; Ben F Harris-Roxas

doi:10.1186/s12889-022-12792-y

Evaluation of 'Shisha No Thanks' - a co-design social marketing campaign on the harms of waterpipe smoking

BMC Public Health. 2022 Feb 24;22(1):386. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12792-y.

Authors

Lilian Chan¹, Nouhad El-Haddad², Becky Freeman³, Ross MacKenzie², Lisa Woodland⁴, Blythe J O'Hara³, Ben F Harris-Roxas⁵

Affiliations

¹ Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, 2006, Camperdown, NSW, Australia. lilian.chan@sydney.edu.au.
² Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
³ Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, 2006, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Population and Community Health, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Darlinghurst, Australia.
⁵ School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Waterpipe (shisha) is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, particularly among young people; and in some countries, it is one of the few forms of tobacco use that is increasing. While there is a growing body of evidence of the harms of waterpipe smoke, there is a scarcity of research of interventions to address this form of tobacco consumption.

Methods: The Shisha No Thanks project was a co-design social marketing campaign that aimed to raise awareness of the harms of waterpipe smoking among young people from an Arabic speaking background in Sydney, Australia. The campaign distributed material through social media and community events. We evaluated the project through an SMS community panel using a longitudinal study design. The cohort were sent questions before and after the project asking about their awareness of messages of harms, attitudes, intention to reduce waterpipe smoking, and awareness of support services. Data was analysed as matched pre- post- data.

Results: The evaluation recruited 133 people to the panel. There was a significantly greater proportion of people who reported seeing, hearing or reading something about the harms of waterpipe smoking after the campaign (67.5%) compared with before (45.0%) (p=0.003). Post-campaign, there were higher proportions of people who strongly agreed that waterpipe smoking causes damage, and that it contains cancer-causing substances, but these increases were not statistically significant. There was low awareness of waterpipe cessation services at baseline and post campaign (22.5%).

Conclusions: The Shisha No Thanks project increased awareness of messages about the harms of waterpipe smoking. Although this is a small study, the longitudinal evaluation findings have international relevance and make a useful contribution to the understanding of the impact such interventions can have in addressing one of the few forms of tobacco use that is growing in both developed and developing countries.

Keywords: Campaign; Smoking; Social marketing; Tobacco control; Waterpipe.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Smoking Water Pipes*
Social Marketing
Tobacco Use
Water Pipe Smoking* / epidemiology