Over-time changes in reactions to pictorial health warning labels and association with quitting behavior among adult smokers in Thailand: findings from ITC Thailand survey (2005 - 2012)
More details
Hide details
1
Mahidol University, Institute for Population and Social Research, Thailand
2
Cancer Council Victoria, Australia
3
University of Waterloo, Department of Psychology, Canada
Publication date: 2018-03-01
Tob. Induc. Dis. 2018;16(Suppl 1):A203
Download abstract book (PDF)
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
This presentation explores over-time
changes in smokers' reactions to pictorial health warning labels (PWLs) and
impact on subsequent quitting in Thailand where PWLs on tobacco packs were first
implemented in 2005 and were revised in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2014.
Methods:
Nationally representative
longitudinal data from six waves of the ITC Thailand Survey (2005-2012) were
analyzed, involving a cohort of 2,000 smokers aged 18 years and older at
baseline. The primary outcome was subsequent quitting behavior, including intentions
to quit, quit attempts, and successful quitting.
Results:
Descriptive analyses show that
the effectiveness of the PWLs increased over time, evidence of the positive
benefits of periodic increases in PWL size and changes in content to minimize
the over-time reductions in PWL effectiveness shown in other ITC countries
(e.g., Canada, US, Mauritius, Australia) when warnings have not changed.
Specifically, there were increases in the percentage of smokers who often/very
often noticed the warning labels, read the warning labels closely, reported
that the PWLs made them think of harm of smoking, reported that PWLs influenced
them to think about quitting a lot, and reported that PWLs stopped them from
smoking more than once. Preliminary bivariate analyses found that there was a significant
association between these indicators of warning effectiveness and subsequent attempts
to quit. Additional analyses will examine whether these indicators also predict
subsequent intentions to quit, quit attempt, and successful quitting when
controlling for other known predictors of quitting.
Conclusions:
The new PWLs
on tobacco products implemented in 2005 with periodic rotation appear to show increased effectiveness over time among adult smokers
in Thailand. More research is needed to understand the extent to which the
health warnings contribute to the public health objective of increasing
cessation among smokers and decreasing uptake among non-smoking youth.