Attitudes and Perceptions facebook Logout Smokers on Facebook: An investigation of attitudes about and perceptions of smoking Wall Info Photos Stats Write something… Share Background In order to develop more effective smoking prevention and cessation interventions, an understanding of how people perceive smoking and their attitudes towards smoking is needed. The social networking website ‘Facebook’ is used by over 8 million people in Australia. This study aimed to gain a greater understanding of people’s attitudes and perceptions regarding smoking while evaluating the feasibility of recruiting research participants via ‘Facebook’. View photos of Smokers on Facebook (1) September 11 at 9:45am Like. Comment Send Smokers on Facebook a message Methods Participants were recruited via an advertisement on ‘Facebook’. The study investigated perceptions and attitudes towards smoking via an online questionnaire including the Drug Use Motives Questionnaire (DUMQ)1, and locally developed perceived harm and knowledge questionnaires. Poke message September 10 at 11:50pm Like. Comment Results 526 ‘Facebook’ users completed the online questionnaire. Participants were aged 18-73 (Mean = 31) and 33% were female. 85% of participants had smoked tobacco in the past and over half (60%) of participants were current smokers i.e. had smoked in the last week (see Table 1). Current smokers primarily used tobacco to help them cope with problems and negative affect. Participants who had smoked in the past, but who had not smoked in the last week (ex/occasional smokers) smoked primarily for social reasons. Current smokers reported smoking to cope significantly more frequently than ex/non-regular smokers (see Figure 1). Information Authors: Louise K. Thornton1, Amanda L. Baker1, Martin P. Johnson2 Affiliations: Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, University of Newcastle, Australia School of Psychology. University of Newcastle, Australia Email: Louise.Thornton@newcastle.edu.au Ex/occasional smokers Table 1. Last use of tobacco among ex/occasional and current smokers n=445 Last use of tobacco % More than six months ago 27.4% In the past 6 months 6.7% In the past month 5.4% In the past week 3.4% In the past few days 57.1% Figure 1. Reasons for Smoking (DUMQ) September 9 at 1:34pm Like. Comment You and SRNT like this Current smokers perceived tobacco to be significantly less harmful than ex/non-regular smokers (see Figure 2). Current smokers had fair knowledge of tobacco with an average of 69% correct on the knowledge questionnaire. Current smokers and ex/occasional smokers knowledge of tobacco did not differ (see Figure 3). 95% of smokers reported they had seen an anti-tobacco public health campaign however only 25% of current smokers and 55% of ex/occasional smokers thought the campaigns had helped them to cut down or to stop smoking. Friends Ex/Occasional smokers SRNT Newcastle University Ex/Occasional smokers Figure 2. Perceived harmfulness of tobacco Figure 3. Knowledge of tobacco September 10 at 1:30pm Like. Discussion For just over $900 in advertising costs over 500 participants were recruited to the current study via ‘Facebook’. Participants displayed a wide age range, over 40% were aged over 30 years. Over half of participants were current smokers, which is much higher than the 16-20% found in the wider Australian population. This suggests online forums such as ‘Facebook’ may be effective and cost efficient ways to recruit large numbers of smokers for research. The results also suggest that among current smokers, it may be important that interventions address alternative coping strategies to smoking. These factors may be less important among occasional smokers, where interventions addressing strategies to avoid smoking in social situations may be more helpful. It may also be useful for interventions to highlight the harmful effects of tobacco use, as ex and occasional smokers perceived tobacco to be significantly more harmful than current smokers. However, campaigns that aim to scare smokers are often ineffective(2). It could be more helpful to encourage smokers to think about any negative health effects they have experienced as a result of their smoking. Similarly, these results suggest anti-tobacco campaigns still have room to improve. Despite their ubiquitous nature, only half of ex and occasional smokers, and a quarter of current smokers thought the campaigns had been effective for them. Additionally, as smokers had only fair knowledge of effects of tobacco, it may be important to implement tobacco education campaigns. However, it is unclear if better knowledge of tobacco would increase the chances of cutting down or quitting. Attitudes and Perceptions September 8 at 7:30pm Like. Comment You, SRNT, Newcastle University and 50 others like this 1. Cooper et al (1992) Development and validation of a three-dimensional measure of drinking motives. Psychological Assessment, 4, 123-132. 2. Job (1988) Effective and ineffective use of fear in health promotion campaigns. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 163-167