An RCT of a Smartphone-based TID Programme

A Smartphone Messaging Programme for Tobacco Industry Denormalisation - a Randomised Controlled Trial

The study aims to test the effect a smartphone-based intervention on primary school students and their parents' attitudes towards tobacco industry and their tobacco-related communications.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Tobacco Industry Denormalisation Beliefs; Tobacco-related Communications
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Smartphone-based messages

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 163
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Local primary schools

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents and children should all understand Chinese.
• Parents should have a smartphone and use WhatsApp (a smartphone-based app)

Exclusion Criteria:

• n/a

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TID; Messages will be sent 1-2 times per week containing information that aims to denormalise the tobacco industry.	Other: Smartphone-based messages; For the TID arm, the messages' contents include the tobacco industry's (TI's) anti-smoking campaigns that made smoking more grown-up and more appealing to youth; the TI's role in smoking in movies; etc. For the sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) arm, the messages' contents include the disease conditions linked to SSBs, and the interference of sugar industry in scientific research.
Other: Sugar sweetened beverages; Messages will be sent 1-2 times per week containing information on the adverse health effects of sugar sweetened beverages.	Other: Smartphone-based messages; For the TID arm, the messages' contents include the tobacco industry's (TI's) anti-smoking campaigns that made smoking more grown-up and more appealing to youth; the TI's role in smoking in movies; etc. For the sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) arm, the messages' contents include the disease conditions linked to SSBs, and the interference of sugar industry in scientific research.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
TID beliefs in parents	Parents will report their opinions towards 4 sentences: 1) Tobacco companies are a respectable industry; 2) the tobacco industry does everything it can to get young people to smoke; 2) the tobacco industry use many tactics to resist tobacco control regulations; 4) the tobacco industry deceived the public for financial interests. All the 4 questions have 5 options from definitely yes to definitely no. The options will be recoded into 0-4 or 4-0, as appropriate, with higher scores indicating more negative attitudes towards the industry. A sum of scores from the 4 questions will be deemed a measurement of TID beliefs.	1 month
TID beliefs in children	Students will report their opinions towards 4 sentences: 1) Tobacco companies are a respectable industry; 2) the tobacco industry does everything it can to get young people to smoke; 2) the tobacco industry use many tactics to resist tobacco control regulations; 4) the tobacco industry deceived the public for financial interests. All the 4 questions have 5 options from definitely yes to definitely no. The options will be recoded into 0-4 or 4-0, as appropriate, with higher scores indicating more negative attitudes towards the industry. A sum of scores from the 4 questions will be deemed a measurement of TID beliefs.	1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Tobacco related communication reported by parents	Parents will report whether they said the following to children in the past 30 days: 1) harm of smoking 2) harm of secondhand smoking 3) criticise smoking behaviour 4) approve tobacco control measures. Each of the messages will be analyse as a binary outcome.	1 month
Sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) related communication reported by parents	Parents will report whether they said the following to children in the past 30 days: 1) harm of SSB 2) certain kind of drinks contain sugar 3) don't drink or drink less SSB. Each of the messages will be analyse as a binary outcome.	1 month
Tobacco related communication reported by children	Students will report whether they heard the following from parents in the past 30 days: 1) harm of smoking 2) harm of secondhand smoking 3) criticize smoking behaviour 4) approve tobacco control measures. Each of the messages will be analyse as a binary outcome.	1 month
SSB related communication reported by children	Students will report whether they heard the following from parents in the past 30 days: 1) harm of SSB 2) certain kind of drinks contain sugar 3) don't drink or drink less SSB. Each of the messages will be analyse as a binary outcome.	1 month
Intention to smoke in children	Two questions will be used to assess this outcome: 1) do you think you will smoke in the next 12 months? 2) If one of your good friends offers you a cigarette, will you smoke it? Response options are definitely not/probably not/probably yes/definitely yes. Those choosing options other than "definitely not" for either of the questions will be deemed having intention to smoke; the other students will be deemed having no intention to smoke.	1 month
Home exposure to secondhand smoke in children reported by children	One question will be asked: 1) On how many of the past 7 days did someone smoke near you at home? (Options 0 day/1/2/3/4/5/6/7). The responses will dichotomised into a binary indicator of secondhand smoke exposure (no/any) and analysed as an outcome.	1 month
Home exposure to secondhand smoke in children reported by parents	One question will be asked: 1) On how many of the past 7 days did someone smoke near your children at home? (Options 0 day/1/2/3/4/5/6/7). The responses will dichotomised into a binary indicator of secondhand smoke exposure (no/any) and analysed as an outcome.	1 month
Parents' support for tobacco control	Parents will report their opinions towards 4 sentences: 1) government should adopt plain packaging; 2) government should impose stronger regulation on tobacco; 3) government should strengthen the prevention of the harm of tobacco. The options were strongly support/support/neutral/oppose/strongly oppose. The options will be recoded into 4-0, with higher scores indicating stronger support for tobacco control. A sum of scores from the 4 questions will be deemed a measurement of parents' support for tobacco control.	1 month
Negative attitude towards smoking in parents	Parents will be asked "your attitude towards smoking is" with options of very positive/positive/neutral/negative/very negative. The options will be dichotomised as very negative vs others (negative/neutral/positive/very positive) for analysis.	1 month
Negative attitude towards smoking in children	Children will be asked "your attitude towards smoking is" with options of very positive/positive/neutral/negative/very negative. The options will be dichotomised as very negative vs others (negative/neutral/positive/very positive) for analysis.	1 month
Past 7-day consumption of SSB and water in children reported by children	Children will be asked "On how many of the past 7 days did you drink SSBs?" and "On how many of the past 7 days did you drink water?" For both questions, the options were 0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7 days. These two variables will be analysed as both binary (No (0 day) vs any (1/2/3/4/5/6/7 days)) and continuous variables.	1 month
Past 7-day consumption of SSB and water in children reported by parents	Parents will be asked "On how many of the past 7 days did you drink SSBs?" and "On how many of the past 7 days did you drink water?" For both questions, the options were 0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7 days. These two variables will be analysed as both binary (No (0 day) vs any (1/2/3/4/5/6/7 days)) and continuous variables.	1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 22, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 29, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): June 29, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 8, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 9, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): November 17, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 12, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 10, 2018
• Last Verified: September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: coshdrama

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No