Predicting attitude toward methamphetamine use: the role of antidrug campaign exposure and conversations about meth in Montana

Exploring the Role of Traditional Chopstick Culture and Interpersonal Communication in Health Campaign-Targeted Behavior

Traditional chopstick culture is widely recognized as a vital factor associated with health behavior. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, the Gongkuai campaign aims to change long-held traditions of communal eating habits. Little is known about the effect of individuals' perception of traditional chopstick culture and other factors on Gongkuai campaign-targeted goal. This study investigates how social-environmental and cognitive factors motivate individuals to use serving chopsticks (the Chinese Gongkuai campaign-targeted goal) and how such effects are moderated by traditional chopstick culture. Data was collected using a nationwide online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that campaign-generated interpersonal communication positively affects individual cognitive factors. Furthermore, cognitive factors promote behavioral intentions to use serving chopsticks. While traditional chopstick culture does not directly influence an intention to use serving chopsticks, it plays a different role in the relationships between three cognitive factors and serving chopsticks use intention. Based on the results, policy implications about how to motivate individuals to use serving chopsticks are discussed.

There is hope and help: Reach and reception of a methamphetamine education campaign in Los Angeles County, California

Introduction

In the context of increasing rates of methamphetamine (meth) overdose in Los Angeles County, California, USA, in 2021 the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health relaunched Meth Free LA County, a methamphetamine public education campaign built on Rescue Agency's Decision BlocksTM Strategic Framework.

Methods

To assess campaign reach and reception, we examined media data and an online cross-sectional post-campaign survey in 2021 with a convenience sample of 750 county residents ages 18-54 who had used meth, were at-risk, or had personal relationships with people at-risk. We assessed campaign awareness, receptivity, and perceived effectiveness. Participants also reported concern about meth use in their community, recall of 10 facts from campaign content, and if they had taken promoted actions such as seeking help. We compared proportions between campaign-aware and unaware participants and explored if recall predicted these measures.

Results

Most participants recalled the campaign (84.1%), felt it offered a new way of looking at meth (73.8%), and reported it made them feel that help is available (84.0%) or that it could help reduce their own use (82.4%). Video advertisements received high perceived effectiveness scores. Greater campaign recall was associated with significantly increased odds of being concerned about meth use in the community, recalling facts, and taking promoted actions.

Conclusion

In 2021, Meth Free LA County reached its high-risk audiences. Unlike fear-based campaigns its message resonated with high-risk individuals, providing an example of how public education campaigns on meth and similar illicit substances can connect with their audiences.

Empowering Chinese College Students to Prevent Sexual Assault in Post-MeToo Era: An Empirical Study of the Bystander Intervention Approach

MeToo movement unveiled the high prevalence of sexual assault in Chinese colleges. To create a safer environment, many Chinese universities require students to engage in bystander intervention sessions, which encourages students to assess, identify, and interrupt the harmful situation. Drawing upon health belief model and theory of planned behavior, this study tests the effects of bystander intervention programs, exposure to news reports on MeToo movement, and institutional responses to sexual violence events on bystander intervention intention and behaviors. The results of an online survey (N = 814) indicated that bystander intervention programs were effective in changing attendees' perceived benefits, subjective norms, and bystander self-efficacy, which, in turn, led to increased bystander intervention intention and actual behaviors. Moreover, exposure to MeToo movement reports and institutional responses to sexual assault events were significant predictors of bystander intervention intention and behaviors via the mediation of perceived benefits, perceived costs, and subjective norms. The results provide valuable implications for developing effective bystander intervention programs in Chinese college communities.

"Dying is Not a Fear": Teen and Parent Perspectives on Messaging to Prevent Crystal Meth Use Among Teens in Rural North Idaho

Crystal methamphetamine ("meth") use is on the rise in the USA, having devastating effects on individuals and communities. Innovative prevention strategies are therefore critical. Through an exploratory qualitative study, we examined the perspectives and experiences of teenagers and parents around meth prevention messaging formats and strategies. Teens and adults were recruited through middle and high schools, libraries, local sporting events, and word of mouth in three communities in North Idaho, May-September 2016. Guided by the theoretical framework of the Extended Parallel Process Model, we conducted focus groups and small group interviews (three teen; two adults). Using a deductive content analytic approach, we developed teen- and adult-specific codebooks, analyzed the transcripts with NVivo 12-Plus, and identified themes. Teens and adults were all acutely aware of meth use in their communities, personally knowing people who were addicted to meth, and all understood the oral ("meth mouth") and physical ("crank bugs") consequences of meth use. Three primary themes were identified, which focused on the effects of, addiction to, and messaging around crystal meth use. For teens and adults, images illustrating the effects of meth were least effective if they appeared unrealistic or comical. Teens resonated most with messages focusing on pain and vanity (bad teeth and breath), and there was consensus that showing teens images simulating changes in their appearance over time as a result of meth use in a clinical setting would be an effective prevention strategy. Teens and adults who had exposure to meth addiction in North Idaho felt that prevention messages focused on meth are imperative, given its high prevalence and deleterious effects. Future work will entail developing and testing a communication-based meth prevention strategy along with tailored messaging that can be used with teens in dental settings.

The Paradox of Smoking & Perceived Stress: Do Graphic Health Warnings Influence Smokers under High Stress in Adverse Ways?

The positive effects of graphic health warnings (GHWs) on quitting smoking have been widely demonstrated in the literature on cigarette warning. However, recent findings of smoker reactance to GHWs demand investigations of factors that may constrain the effects of GHWs. The current study sought to identify conditions in which GHWs do not have a positive impact on smokers' desire to quit with a focus on smokers' perceived stress. Two hundred and forty-four smokers in South Korea were exposed to either a text-only or a GHW cigarette pack in a between-subjects experiment. Results from this study suggest that the GHW condition is effective in increasing attention to the GHW, enhancing perceived usefulness of information, and desire to quit only among those with low (vs. high) perceived stress. In addition, an interaction effect between warning type and perceived stress on the desire to quit was sequentially mediated by attention and perceived information effectiveness. Based on the results, we suggest that GHWs were less effective for smokers with high levels of perceived stress because their stress appeared to exhaust the cognitive resources necessary to process the information.

The Effect of Campaign-Generated Interpersonal Communication on Campaign-Targeted Health Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

This study examined the effect of mass media campaign-generated conversations on campaign-targeted health outcomes, via a systematic meta-analysis of 28 studies (including 124 sub-studies and a total of 138,898 participants). The study also conducted a series of moderation analyses to examine the conditions under which interpersonal communication has larger effects on bringing about the desired outcomes. The findings of this meta-analysis indicate that campaign-generated conversations have a positive effect on inducing campaign-targeted outcomes (OR = 1.28) and show that this effect is moderated by health topic addressed by the campaign, the type of outcome being targeted by the campaign, and with whom people converse, along with several other campaign-relevant and study-relevant variables. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

Applying the Health Belief Model and an Integrated Behavioral Model to Promote Breast Tissue Donation Among Asian Americans

An important part in the effort to prevent, treat, and cure breast cancer is research done with healthy breast tissue. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank at Indiana University Simon Cancer Center (KTB) encourages women to donate a small amount of healthy breast tissue and then provides that tissue to researchers studying breast cancer. Although KTB has a large donor base, the volume of tissue samples from Asian women is low despite prior marketing efforts to encourage donation among this population. This study builds on prior work promoting breast cancer screenings among Asian women by applying constructs from the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to investigate why Asian-American women are less inclined to donate their healthy breast tissue than non-Asian women and how this population may be motivated to donate in the future. A national online survey (N = 1,317) found Asian women had significantly lower perceived severity, some lower perceived benefits, and higher perceived barriers to tissue donation than non-Asian women under HBM and significantly lower injunctive norms supporting breast tissue donation, lower perceived behavioral control, and lower intentions to donate under IBM. This study also compares and discusses similarities and differences among East, Southeast, and South Asian women on these same constructs.

A Cross-Comparative Survey of Information Seeking and Scanning About Drug-Related Sources and Topics Among U.S. and Israeli College Students

There is an increasing amount of drug-related information that is easily accessible from media and interpersonal sources. Recent research shows significant positive associations between information acquisition and nonmedical drug use intentions among college students. This study examines information about amphetamines and marijuana that was actively searched ("seeking") as well as information that was encountered during routine media use ("scanning"). Data are drawn from a cross-national comparative survey of college students in the United States (N = 734) and in Israel (N = 800). U.S. participants reported seeking and scanning information about marijuana across a broader range of sources than Israeli participants. Among U.S. and Israeli participants, the most frequently searched marijuana-related topics included the benefits of marijuana, negative effects of marijuana use, and political reasons why marijuana should be legal. Participants from both countries reported the benefits of amphetamines, and the negative effects of amphetamine use as the most frequently searched topics about amphetamines. Participants in both countries identified the internet and friends as the most popular sources of drug-related information and noted that physicians, friends, and the internet were the most trusted sources. Implications for research on information seeking and health communication are discussed.