Testing the influence of harm reduction messages on health risk attitudes, injunctive norms and perceived behavioral control

BACKGROUND: E-cigarettes can potentially be a harm reduction pathway for adults who smoke and who are seeking to make the complete switch from cigarettes. However, often people who smoke believe that e-cigarettes are just as damaging as cigarettes to their health. From a harm reduction perspective, the key question is whether providing information about the reduced toxicant intake of e-cigarettes, compared to cigarettes, could influence their perceptions and whether there are certain message features that might further support this transition. METHODS: In this experiment (n = 305), we test whether a harm reduction (reduced toxicant intake, complete switch) message will influence the health risk attitudes, injunctive norms and perceived behavioral control of people who smoke, compared to those who do not view a message and whether including a “smoking cue” within the message influences their response. RESULTS: Results indicate that those who viewed the harm reduction message with a smoking cue had lower health risk attitudes than those who did not view a message (p = 0.025) and higher injunctive norms than those who viewed the message without a smoking cue (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that a harm reduction message with a smoking cue can influence the perceptions of adults who smoke, lowering health risk attitudes and increasing injunctive norms.