Mix of positive, negative messages may prompt more smokers to quit

A new study has revealed that mix of positive and negative messages might prompt more smokers to quit depending on their confidence in the ability to quit.

The study found that "gain-framed" messages, those that stressed the benefits in quitting, such as "quitting smoking reduces the risk of death due to tobacco," were more effective for smokers who thought they could quit when they wanted.

On the other hand "loss-framed" messages, the ones that emphasized the negative outcomes from smoking, such as "smoking can kill you" were more effective for smokers who believed quitting would be hard.

Darren Mays, PhD, said that leveraging both gain- and loss-framed messaging might prompt more smokers to quit.

The study showed that framing messages to address smokers' pre-existing attitudes and beliefs may help achieve this goal of improving public health outcomes, he further added.

Researchers chose to study the impact of four pictorial pictures; a man using a breathing apparatus; two sets of lungs, one healthy and one diseased; a prone man with stitches on his chest lying on a white sheet; and the cancerous mouth, with loss-frame or gain-framed messages. They found that each was effective.

The study is published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.