Impact of Nicotine Messaging on Nicotine Beliefs and Tobacco Use Behavior

This is a 2-arm, randomized controlled, population based trial to test the impact of multiple exposures to brief nicotine corrective messages among adult tobacco cigarette smokers and non-smokers followed for 12 weeks. The primary outcome, assessed at wave 1 (baseline), wave 2 (weeks 5-6), and wave 4 (weeks 11-13) is nicotine beliefs. Secondary outcomes assessed at the same time points include intention to use nicotine/tobacco products and nicotine/tobacco use. All participants will be recruited from a US national consumer research panel. Eligible participants will be U.S. adults ages 18+ who are enrolled members of the partnering consumer research panel. The sample will include non-smokers and smokers, oversampling current smokers (defined as smoking 100+ lifetime cigarettes and now smoking all or some days) to ensure the proportion of smokers in the sample reflects the ~15 % population smoking prevalence among adults. Panel members will be contacted by email with a brief study description and link to an eligibility screener and online informed consent form. Eligible and interested participants will complete the baseline (Wave 1) survey measures of nicotine beliefs and intentions/use of nicotine and tobacco products, after which they will be randomly assigned in equal numbers to the nicotine corrective message (NCM) intervention condition or the delayed message control condition. After completing the baseline survey, participants in the NCM condition will receive their first exposure to the corrective messages. In the Wave 2 survey, all participants will complete measures of nicotine beliefs and intentions/use of nicotine and tobacco products. Participants in the NCM condition will then receive their second exposure to study messages. Only participants in the NCM condition will receive the Wave 3 survey, which involves the third exposure to study messages. The Wave 4 survey will include the fourth exposure to study messages for those in the NCM condition and the final assessment of nicotine beliefs and intentions/use of nicotine and tobacco products for all participants. Upon completion of the final assessment, participants in the control condition will be exposed to the nicotine corrective messages and all participants will be directed to resources on quitting smoking.