title: The Impact of Asking About Interest in Free Nicotine Patches on Smoker's Stated Intent to Change: Real Effect or Artefact of Question Ordering?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stage of change questions are often included on general population surveys to assess the proportion of current smokers intending to quit. The current study reported on a methodological experiment to establish whether participant's self-reported stage of change can be influenced by asking about interest in free nicotine patches immediately prior to asking about intent to change.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of an ongoing random digit dialing survey, a randomized half of participants were asked if they would be interested in receiving nicotine patches to help them quit smoking prior to being asked whether they intended to quit smoking in the next 6 months and 30 days.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants who were first asked about interest in free nicotine patches were more likely to rate themselves as in preparation for change (asked first = 33%; not asked first = 19%), and less likely to rate themselves as in the precontemplation stage of change (asked first = 34%; not asked first = 47%), compared with participants who were not asked about their interest in free nicotine patches prior to being asked about their stage of change (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are several possible explanations of the results. It is possible that offers of free nicotine patches increases smokers intentions to quit, at least temporarily. Alternatively, smokers being asked about interest in free nicotine patches may expect that the researchers would like to hear about people intending to quit, and respond accordingly.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada; john.cunningham@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;
authors.forename: Vladyslav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kushnir
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCambridge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061485:Tobacco Use Cessation Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*