Abstract
Implicit attitudes have been shown to predict smoking behaviors. Therefore, an important goal is the development of interventions to change these attitudes. This study assessed the effects of a web-based intervention on implicit attitudes toward smoking and receptivity to smoking-related information. Smokers (N = 284) were recruited to a two-session web-based study. In the first session, baseline data were collected. Session two contained the intervention, which consisted of assignment to the experimental or control version of an approach-avoidance task and assignment to an anti-smoking or control public service announcement (PSA), and post-intervention measures. Among smokers with less education and with plans to quit, implicit attitudes were more negative for those who completed the approach-avoidance task. Smokers with more education who viewed the anti-smoking PSA and completed the approach-avoidance task spent more time reading smoking-related information. An approach-avoidance task is a potentially feasible strategy for changing implicit attitudes toward smoking and increasing receptivity to smoking-related information.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Grant DA013555 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health. We thank Brian Nosek and Project Implicit for their technical assistance and web site hosting services.
Conflict of interest
Jonathan T. Macy, Laurie Chassin, Clark C. Presson, and Jeffrey W. Sherman declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
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Macy, J.T., Chassin, L., Presson, C.C. et al. Changing implicit attitudes toward smoking: results from a web-based approach-avoidance practice intervention. J Behav Med 38, 143–152 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9585-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9585-2