Outcomes assessed in experimental pictorial warning studies
| Construct | Definition | Example item | Examples of authors’ terminology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attention and recall | |||
| Attention attracting | The extent to which the warning attracted or grabbed the participant's attention | The pack grabbed my attention29 | Attract attention, salience |
| Attention duration | Amount of time participant spent viewing the warning label | NA (objective measure) | Looking time |
| Response time | The amount of time it took participant to complete questions or click forward after viewing the warning label | NA (objective measure) | Response latencies, response time |
| Recall/recognition of warning text | Whether participant could remember warning text following exposure | Try to recall what the warning information on the package stated and type it in the box below28 | Recall, aided recall, correctly recalling warning statement |
| Warning reactions—cognitive, emotional and physiological | |||
| Cognitive elaboration | The extent to which the participant thought about the warning's content (eg, the harms of smoking) | To what extent, if at all, do those health warnings make you think about the health risks?35 | Think about health risks of smoking, think about harms |
| Negative affective reactions | Negative emotional reactions to the warning, such as fear or disgust | How afraid, worried, uncomfortable or disgusted participants felt after having seen each warning36 | Negative affect, emotional reactions, evoked fear, fear intensity |
| Credibility | Perceptions of believability or truthfulness of the warning | The pack is believable37 | Credibility, perceived credibility, believability |
| Lower psychological reactance | Lack of a negative reaction in response to a perceived threat to one's freedom | How irritated, angry, annoyed, and aggravated the warnings made the participant (reverse coded)38 | State reactance, emotional reactions |
| Lower smoking cravings | The extent to which one does not crave a cigarette | I want a cigarette right now (reverse coded)39 | Cravings to smoke, aversion to smoking |
| Aversiveness | The extent to which the warning was difficult to look at | The pack was difficult to look at29 | Pack difficult to look at |
| Attitudes and beliefs | |||
| Negative pack/brand attitudes | Negative evaluation of the cigarette pack or brand | Attitudes toward the package of cigarettes: unfavourable/favourable, negative/positive, and bad/good (reverse coded)28 | Package attractiveness, package attitude, brand attitude |
| Negative smoking attitudes | Negative evaluation of smoking behaviour | Smoking helps people relax, smoking helps to reduce stress, smoking helps to keep weight down (reverse coded)40 | Attitude toward cigarettes, smoking-related stereotypes |
| Perceived likelihood of harm | Beliefs that smoking cigarettes is likely to lead to health-related harms | Please evaluate your future risk of developing each of the following diseases: lung cancer, etc41 | Risk of smoking-related diseases, smoking effects scale, perceived susceptibility, vulnerability |
| Self-efficacy to quit | Confidence in one’s ability to quit smoking | I do not need help from anyone to quit smoking39 | Quit efficacy, self-efficacy |
| Intentions | |||
| Lower willingness to pay | Prices assigned to cigarette packs with and without pictorial warnings | NA (monetary amount) | Perceived value for the pack |
| Intention to not start smoking | Likelihood of not starting smoking | Do you think that you will smoke a cigarette at anytime during the next year?40 | Intent to smoke, intentions to start smoking |
| Intention to quit smoking | Likelihood of quitting smoking | How likely do you think it is that you will try to quit smoking within the next 30 days?39 | Intention to quit, quit intentions |
| Perceived effectiveness of warning labels to… | |||
| Motivate me/others to not start smoking | Perception of warning message's motivational value for participant/others not starting smoking | How effective label would be in convincing youth not to start smoking42 | Motivation to remain abstinent, effectiveness rating—convincing youth not to start |
| Motivate me to cut down smoking | Perception of warning message's motivational value for participant cutting down on smoking | Indicate the chances that they would reduce the number of cigarettes smoked if the image they were viewing appeared on the cigarette or tobacco brand they normally purchased42 | Foregoing a cigarette, reduce consumption |
| Motivate me to quit smoking | Perception of warning message's motivational value for participant quitting smoking | The information presented on this package would help me quit smoking25 | Perceived intentions to quit, motivation to quit smoking, perceived impact on the decision to quit smoking |
| Motivate others to quit smoking | Perception of warning message's motivational value for others quitting smoking | How effective label would be in motivating smokers to quit42 | Motivate smokers to quit, encourage other smokers to quit |
| Motivate me/others to not smoke (composite asked of smoker/non-smoker samples together) | Perception of warning message's motivational value to not smoke | Due to this warning, I would cut down/not start smoking. My smoking behaviour would be influenced by this warning43 | Encourage others to quit/discourage others from starting, effectiveness evaluation |
| Be generally effective (typically single item) | Perception of the general effectiveness of the warning message (no referent, such as participant or others, provided) | Overall, on a scale of 1–10, how effective is this health warning?44 | Overall effectiveness, most effective |
| Be effective for me/others (multiple-item scale) | Perceptions about the effectiveness of the warning message for participant /others | Multiple item scales, such as: the pack makes me want to quit smoking. The pack will make people more concerned about the health risks of smoking. The pack will prevent young people from starting to smoke37 | Perceived effectiveness, perceived impact |
| Deter giving cigarettes as gift | Perceptions of the extent to which a warning label would deter a participant from wanting to give cigarettes as a gift | If you want to use cigarettes as a gift, do the following cigarette labels make you change your mind and not do so?45 | Perceived impact of giving cigarettes as a gift |