Source Credibility and E-Cigarette Attitudes: Implications for Tobacco Communication

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Communication
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Conflicting information on e-cigarettes necessitates research into source credibility's impact on attitudes.
• Source credibility is crucial for health topics, yet its role in e-cigarette attitudes is understudied.
• Understanding trust in various information sources is vital for effective public health campaigns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess differences in trust in e-cigarette information sources based on user status.
• To investigate the association between trust in specific sources and attitudes toward e-cigarettes.
• To inform future communication strategies for e-cigarette public health initiatives.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the 2015 Health Information National Trends Survey-FDA (HINTS-FDA) with 3,738 participants.
• Employed weighted linear regression to examine differences in source trust by e-cigarette user status.
• Used weighted logistic regression to analyze associations between trust in sources and e-cigarette attitudes.

Main Results:

• E-cigarette ever users showed significantly lower trust in governmental agencies compared to never users.
• Trust in e-cigarette companies negatively correlated with perceived addictiveness and absolute harm.
• Trust in healthcare providers negatively correlated with harm perceptions relative to conventional cigarettes.

Conclusions:

• Associations between trust in e-cigarette information sources and attitudes vary by source and attitude.
• Industry-related sources (e-cigarette and tobacco companies) are linked to lower perceived harm.
• Future campaigns should discredit industry sources and leverage non-governmental sources for effective messaging.