Message formats and their influence on perceived risks of tobacco use: a pilot formative research project in India

In India, tobacco kills 900 000 people every year though the burden of tobacco is faced disproportionately in poorer states such as Bihar. Teachers may be a particularly influential group in setting norms around tobacco use in the Indian context. However, tobacco use among teachers remains high and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health education research 2013-04, Vol.28 (2), p.326-338
Main Authors: Pischke, Claudia R., Galarce, Ezequiel M., Nagler, Eve, Aghi, Mira, Sorensen, Glorian, Gupta, Prakash C., Pednekar, Mangesh S., Sinha, Dhirendra N., Viswanath, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Bihar
Cessation
Consciousness Raising
Decision Making
Education
Evidence
Evidence based
Focus Groups
Foreign Countries
Health
Health Education - methods
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health risks
Health technology assessment
Humans
India
Original
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Pilot Projects
Qualitative Research
Risk
Risk Factors
Role Models
Self Efficacy
Smoking
Smoking - adverse effects
Smoking - psychology
Smoking Cessation - psychology
Teacher Attitudes
Teachers
Tobacco
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Summary:In India, tobacco kills 900 000 people every year though the burden of tobacco is faced disproportionately in poorer states such as Bihar. Teachers may be a particularly influential group in setting norms around tobacco use in the Indian context. However, tobacco use among teachers remains high and perceptions of tobacco-related health risks are unexplored. To qualitatively explore perceptions about tobacco use among teachers in Bihar and to examine how risk information may be communicated through a variety of message formats, 12 messages on tobacco health risks varying in formats were tested in focus groups with teachers from Bihar. Participants stated that teachers were already aware of tobacco-related health risks. To further increase awareness of these risks, the inclusion of evidence-based facts in messages was recommended. Communicating risk information using negative emotions had a great appeal to teachers and was deemed most effective for increasing risk perception. Messages using narratives of teachers' personal accounts of quitting tobacco were deemed effective for increasing knowledge about the benefits of quitting. To conclude, messages using evidence-based information, possibly with negative emotions, testimonials with role models and those messages emphasizing self-efficacy in the format of narratives appear to appeal to teachers in Bihar.
ISSN:0268-1153
1465-3648
DOI:10.1093/her/cys112