Effects of brief exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms on twitter: a randomised controlled experiment
Autor: | Caroline F. Wright, Olga Elizarova, Jennifer Dahne, Philippa Williams, Andy S.L. Tan, Jian-Guo Bian, Yunpeng Zhao |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Psychological intervention Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems preventive medicine social medicine Social medicine Epidemiology medicine Humans Misinformation Controlled experiment Preventive healthcare Smokers business.industry Public health Communication General Medicine Harm Medicine epidemiology Smoking Cessation Public Health business Social Media Demography |
Zdroj: | BMJ Open, Vol 11, Iss 9 (2021) BMJ Open Wright, C L, Williams, P M, Elizarova, O, Dahne, J, Bian, J, Zhao, Y & Tan, A 2021, ' Effects of brief exposure to misinformation about E-cigarette Harms on Twitter a randomised controlled experiment ', BMJ Open, vol. 11, no. 9, e045445 . https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045445 |
ISSN: | 2044-6055 |
Popis: | ObjectivesTo assess the effect of exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms found on Twitter on adult current smokers’ intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarettes and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with regular cigarettes.SettingAn online randomised controlled experiment conducted in November 2019 among USA and UK current smokers.Participants2400 adult current smokers aged ≥18 years who were not current e-cigarette users recruited from an online panel. Participants’ were randomised in a 1:1:1:1 ratio using a least-fill randomiser function.InterventionsViewing 4 tweets in random order within one of four conditions: (1) e-cigarettes are just as or more harmful than smoking, (2) e-cigarettes are completely harmless, (3) e-cigarette harms are uncertain, and (4) a control condition of tweets about physical activity.Primary outcomes measuresSelf-reported post-test intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarettes, and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with smoking.ResultsAmong US and UK participants, after controlling for baseline measures of the outcome, exposure to tweets that e-cigarettes are as or more harmful than smoking versus control was associated with lower post-test intention to purchase e-cigarettes (β=−0.339, 95% CI −0.487 to –0.191, pConclusionsUS and UK adult current smokers may be deterred from considering using e-cigarettes after brief exposure to tweets that e-cigarettes were just as or more harmful than smoking. Conversely, US adult current smokers may be encouraged to use e-cigarettes after exposure to tweets that e-cigarettes are completely harmless. These findings suggest that misinformation about e-cigarette harms may influence some adult smokers’ decisions to consider using e-cigarettes.Trial registration numberISRCTN16082420. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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