Health Communications for Adults Smoking Nondaily

NCT07296848 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 2 other identifiers: 94633R03CA286623
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 320
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to develop smoking health risk messaging targeted to adults who smoke some days, but not smoke every day (nondaily). The main purpose is to learn what type of smoking health risk messages will be most likely to encourage adults nondaily to quit completely. Aim 1will iteratively obtain qualitative feedback from adults smoking nondaily on initial message designs, resulting in 12 final messages. Aim 2 will test message properties using a 2 (health vs. social messages) x 2 (positive vs. negative messages) between subjects design to ascertain which messages promote proximal outcomes associated with quitting cigarettes (e.g., new knowledge, risk perceptions, motivation and intentions to quit).

Conditions

Smoking Cessation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Change in Knowledge

  Knowledge will be assessed with items based on the ITC-4 (International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey) that map onto information presented in the messages (e.g., "Does smoking cause…" heart disease, lung cancer in others; Yes, No, I don't know)

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

• Change in Worry

  Worry will be assessed with 4 items, "How \[worried, anxious, fearful, concerned\] are you about the effects of smoking?" (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely).

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

• Change in Risk perception

  Risk perceptions will be assessed with 3 items, "If you \[don't/do\] quit smoking for good, what are your chances of ever developing a smoking-related health problem?" and "How susceptible do you feel you are to developing a smoking-related health problem?" (1=Lowest susceptibility, 7=Highest susceptibility). These will be averaged to form a measure of personal absolute risk

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

• Change in the Contemplation Ladder

  Motivation to quit will be measured with the Contemplation Ladder, rating the position on an 11-rung ladder (0-10) corresponding to stages from "no thought of quitting" (0) to "taking action" (10)

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

• Change in the Motivation to Stop Scale

  Motivation to quit will be measured with the Motivation to Stop Scale, Level of motivation to stop smoking is measured with seven response categories ranging from 1 (lowest) to level 7 (highest level of motivation to stop smoking)

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

• Change in intention to quit

  Intention to quit will be measured with the question "What best describes your intent to stop smoking completely, not even a puff?" (1=Never expect to quit, 4=Will quit in the next 30 days)

  Baseline and post-intervention (approximately 1 hour)

Study Arms (4)

Positive Health Messaging (PH)

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Targeted Smoking Messages

Negative Health Messaging (NH)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Targeted Smoking Messages

Positive Social Messaging (PS)

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Targeted Smoking Messages

Negative Social Messaging (NS)

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Targeted Smoking Messages

Interventions

Targeted Smoking Messages BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view 3 messages within the assigned condition (PH, PS, NH, NS) in a random order. Each message will be displayed for a minimum of 30 seconds.

Negative Health Messaging (NH); Negative Social Messaging (NS); Positive Health Messaging (PH); Positive Social Messaging (PS)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• individuals that report smoking at least one combustible cigarette per day on 4-28 days in the past 30 days
• able to read/write in English
• able to give informed consent
• no history of daily smoking

You may not qualify if:

• enrolled in smoking cessation treatment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI): collaborator
• Bethany Shorey Fennell, PhD: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, 40506, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Smoking Cessation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Health Behavior; Behavior

Study Officials

• Bethany Shorey Fennell, PhD

  University of Kentucky

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 18, 2025
• First Posted: December 22, 2025
• Study Start: April 17, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Last Updated: April 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)