Developing a text-message library for tobacco prevention among adolescents: A qualitative study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Communication
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Communicating tobacco risks to adolescents is challenging due to the evolving tobacco market.
• Text message interventions are a promising approach to improve tobacco risk communication.
• This study focuses on developing a message library for multiple tobacco products.

Purpose of the Study:

• To inform the design of a text message library for tobacco risk communication.
• To base the message library on the transtheoretical model.
• To address the risks associated with multiple tobacco products.

Main Methods:

• Two-phase study: Phase 1 (focus groups, interviews), Phase 2 (online ideation sessions).
• Thematic analysis and affinity mapping were used to identify key themes.
• Message iterations and voting informed the final library development.

Main Results:

• Four major themes emerged: knowledge gaps, social influence, marketing attitudes, and message framing preferences.
• Participants generated message iterations, leading to a library of 306 messages.
• Messages are categorized into 7 sections based on the transtheoretical model's processes of change.

Conclusions:

• Key insights were gained for developing and evaluating scientifically valid tobacco prevention text messages for adolescents.
• Future plans include vetting the message library with adolescents and experts.
• Tailoring messages based on demographics and risk factors is a potential future research direction.