Impact of the new malaysian cigarette pack warnings on smokers' awareness of health risks and interest in quitting smoking

2011

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Volume 7, Issue 11, November 2010, Pages 4089-4099

Impact of the new malaysian cigarette pack warnings on smokers' awareness of health risks and interest in quitting smoking

Fathelrahman,A.I.,
Omar, M.,
Awang, R.,
Cummings, M.K.,
Borland, R.

The objective of this research was to compare the response of adult smokers in Malaysia to newly proposed pictorial cigarette warnings against the current text-only warnings. The study population included 140 adult male smokers who were enrolled in a randomized trial to view either the new pictorial warnings (intervention) or the old text-only warnings (control). Participants completed pre-exposure and post- exposure questionnaires that assessed their awareness of the health risks of smoking, response to the package warnings, and interest in quitting smoking. Exposure to the pictorial warnings resulted in increased awareness of the risks of smoking, stronger behavioral response to the warnings and increased interest in quitting smoking. The new warnings in Malaysia will increase smokers' knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking and have a positive effect on interest in quitting.