title: Believability of new diseases reported in the 2014 Surgeon General's Report on smoking: Experimental results from a national survey of US adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death globally. The 2014 Surgeon General's Report included new diseases linked to smoking, including liver and colon cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis. As more diseases are linked to smoking, which diseases should we communicate to the public and what message source has the most impact?
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected through a nationally representative phone survey of US adults (N=5014), conducted from September 2014 through May 2015. We experimentally randomized participants to a 2 (new smoking disease messages - liver and colon cancers compared to diabetes and tuberculosis) by 4 (message sources - CDC, FDA, Surgeon General, and none) experiment. The outcome was message believability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About half the sample was female (51.5%) and 17.8% were a current smoker. Overall, 56% of participants said the messages were very believable. Cancer messages (liver and colon cancer) were significantly more believable than messages about chronic disease (tuberculosis and diabetes), 61% vs. 52%. Smokers were less likely to report both sets of new disease messages as very believable compared to non-smokers. Significantly more smokers intending to quit (44.5%) found the messages to be very believable compared to smokers not intending to quit (22.6%). Believability did not differ by message source.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Important differences exist in believability of disease messages about new tobacco-related information. Messages emphasizing the causal link between smoking and new diseases should be considered for use in mass media campaigns.
authors.affiliation: Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 80803, USA. Electronic address: dianefrancis@lsu.edu.
authors.forename: Diane B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.affiliation: School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Seth M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Noar
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kowitt
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Jarman
authors.affiliation: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Adam O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Campaigns; Health communication; Message; Smoking; Source