Responses to E-cigarette Message Source and Presentation

Identifying and Examining the Effects of Source and Presentation on Responses to Electronic Cigarette Public Education Messages in Young Adult Vapers and Non-vapers - Part 1

The goal of this clinical trial is to use crowdsourcing to test the effects of a message source (expert and peer) and message presentation types (one-sided and two-sided) to identify the optimal message type for young adults who vape and do not vape.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Vaping
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Expert, one-sided; Other: Expert, two-sided; Other: Peer, one-sided; Other: Peer, two-sided

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 848
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, 01605
      • UMass Chan Medical School

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• US residents ages 18-24
• Fluent in English
• Reporting either vaping in the past 30 days or not having vaped in the past 30 days but susceptible to vaping

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age less than 18 or above 24
• Not fluent in English
• Not a member of partnering crowdsourcing behavioral research platform conducting the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Expert, one-sided; Participants assigned to the expert, one-sidedness condition will receive one-sided e-cigarette messages from an expert source.	Other: Expert, one-sided; Participants will view a brief description of an expert source and see one-sided e-cigarette education messages.
Experimental: Expert, two-sided; Participants assigned to the expert, two-sidedness condition will receive two-sided e-cigarette messages from an expert source.	Other: Expert, two-sided; Participants will view a brief description of an expert source and see two-sided e-cigarette education messages.
Experimental: Peer, one-sided; Participants assigned to the peer, one-sidedness condition will receive one-sided e-cigarette messages from a peer source.	Other: Peer, one-sided; Participants will view a brief description of a peer source and see one-sided e-cigarette education messages.
Experimental: Peer, two-sided; Participants assigned to the peer, two-sidedness condition will receive two-sided e-cigarette messages from a peer source.	Other: Peer, two-sided; Participants will view a brief description of a peer source and see two-sided e-cigarette education messages.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Message Acceptance	Participants' self-reported message acceptance were measured by using a five-point Likert scale using five items assessing whether participants thought the message was worth remembering, grabbed their attention, powerful, convincing, and meaningful on a scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score, and this was done for each arm for each vaping status. Higher scores indicate more more message acceptance, therefore better outcomes.	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Harm Perceptions	Harm perceptions was measured by a single item e-cigarette harm perceptions question assessing participants' perceived absolute harm of e-cigarette use on a scale from 1 (Not at all harmful) to 10 (Very harmful). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score. This was done for each vaping status (current vapers and susceptible non-vapers). Higher scores indicate greater vaping harm perceptions, therefore indicating better outcome.	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Negative Cognition	Negative cognition was measured by six-item reactance questionnaire, such as perceptions of messages being manipulative, misleading, distorted, overblown, exaggerated, and overstated on a scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). Higher scores indicate greater negative cognition, indicating worse outcome.	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Message Anger	Message anger was measured by four item message anger question assessing the extent to which the messages made participants feel irritated, angry, annoyed, and aggravated on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). Items were summed and averaged. This was done for each vaping status (current vapers and susceptible non-vapers). Higher scores indicate greater anger toward messages, indicating worse outcomes.	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Message Liking	Message liking will be measured by a single-item liking of the message on scale from 1 (Dislike very much) to 5 (Like very much). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score. This was done for each vaping status (current vapers and susceptible non-vapers). Higher scores indicate greater message liking, therefore indicating better outcome.	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Source Trust	Source trust was measured by a single-item trust in health information source questionnaire, such as trust in source about vaping information on a scale from 1(Not at all) to 5 (Very much so). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score. This was done for each vaping status (current vapers and susceptible non-vapers). Higher scores indicate greater source trust, therefore indicating better outcome	After exposure to each messages (approximately up to 20 minutes total), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Attitudes	Participants' self-reported vaping attitudes were measured by using a five-point bipolar scale using 7 subscale items assessing whether participants thought vaping was enjoyable, healthy, safe, fun, smart, cool, and attractive on a scale from 1 (negative attitudes) to 5 (positive attitudes). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score, and this was done for each arm for each vaping status. Higher scores indicate more positive e-cigarette attitudes, therefore worse outcomes.	After exposure to all messages (approximately up to 45 minutes), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.
Behavioral Intentions to Vape or Try Vaping	Participants' vaping or vaping trial intentions were measured by using a 3 subscale items assessing participants' intentions to vape: soon/anytime during the next year/would use offered by one of their best friends, on a scale from 1 (Definitely not) to 5 (Definitely yes). Items were summed and averaged to create a single composite score. This was done for each vaping status (current vapers and susceptible non-vapers). Higher scores indicate greater vaping intentions, therefore indicating worse outcome.	After exposure to all messages (approximately up to 45 minutes), measured during a single study visit on Day 1.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Worcester
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Donghee N Lee, PhD, UMass Chan Medical School

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 5, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 5, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 17, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 20, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 23, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 14, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 20, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Smoking; Vaping
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00001220; 1K99CA281094-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

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