Table 3

Outcome measures in quantitative studies

ConstructInstrumentExample questions
Intent to useThe Intent to Use Questionnaire (ITUQ)

  • Intention to try (ie, to sample at least once; two items)

  • Intention to use (ie, for continued usage; two items)

(Answers on a 6-point scale from ‘Definitely Not’ to ‘Definitely’)		Based on what you know about IQOS, how likely or unlikely are you to try IQOS?
If you try IQOS and like it, and taking into consideration the prices that are shown on the material, how likely or unlikely are you to use IQOS regularly?
Change in intention to quit smokingYes/no questions based on Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change model31 measured before and after exposure to IQOS message to determine change in intention to quit smoking (four items—two for smoking, two for all tobacco products)Are you seriously considering quitting smoking within the next 6 months?
Are you planning to quit smoking in the next 30 days?
Comprehension

  1. ‘Global comprehension’: overall comprehension of the IQOS message on exposure to harmful chemicals and risk of tobacco-related diseases of using IQOS.

  2. ‘Specific comprehension’: comprehension of three specific parts of the IQOS message: the Intended Users Statement, Evidence Statement and Warning Statement.

Both types of comprehension were assessed with multiple-choice questions, five response options were presented, with one correct option, three incorrect options and an option for ‘don’t know’.		Next, thinking about all of the information on the IQOS material, completely switching from conventional cigarettes to IQOS:

  1. Can increase the risk of tobacco-related diseases.

  2. Can reduce the risk of tobacco-related diseases (correct).

  3. Has the same risk of tobacco-related diseases.

  4. Can eliminate the risk of tobacco-related. diseases

  5. Don’t know.

What happens to tobacco when IQOS is used?

  1. It is burned.

  2. It remains at room temperature.

  3. It is cooled.

  4. It is heated but not burned (correct).

  5. Don’t know.

Risk perceptionThe Perceived Risk Instrument-Personal Risk (PRI-P) comprised of two domains, each measured by a unidimensional scale:

  1. Perceived Health Risk 18-item Scale

  2. Perceived Addiction Risk 7-item Scale

  3. Perceived Harm to Others (two separate questions)

Answers were no risk, low risk, moderate risk, high risk, very high risk and don’t know, and were later converted into a 0 to 100 scale (0=no risk and 100=very high risk)		If you were to start using IQOS, what do you think would be the risk, if any, to you personally of getting the following (sometime during your lifetime) because you use IQOS…losing some sense of taste, having heart disease, an earlier death, having sores of the mouth or throat, and so on.
If you were to start using IQOS, what do you think would be the risk, if any, to you personally of experiencing the following because you use IQOS… being unable to quit cigarettes, feeling like you have to smoke cigarettes, and so on.
If you were to start using IQOS, what do you think would be the risk, if any, to others because you use IQOS… harming others through your secondhand smoke, harming unborn baby.

  • Source, Adopted from Table 17 in the Executive Summary, p. 121.15