%0 Journal Article
%@ 2291-5222
%I JMIR Publications
%V 9
%N 11
%P e25618
%T Mobile Text Messaging for Tobacco Risk Communication Among Young Adult Community College Students: Randomized Trial of Project Debunk
%A Prokhorov,Alexander V
%A Calabro,Karen Sue
%A Arya,Ashish
%A Russell,Sophia
%A Czerniak,Katarzyna W
%A Botello,Gabrielle C
%A Chen,Minxing
%A Yuan,Ying
%A Perez,Adriana
%A Vidrine,Damon J
%A Perry,Cheryl L
%A Khalil,Georges Elias
%+ Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Clinical and Translational Science Building, 2004 Mowry Road Office 2252, Gainesville, FL, 32610, United States, 1 3522948415, gkhalil@ufl.edu
%K tobacco use
%K risk communication
%K text messaging
%K message framing
%K regulatory science
%K young adults
%K vaping
%K mobile phone
%D 2021
%7 24.11.2021
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
%G English
%X Background: The use of new and emerging tobacco products (NETPs) and conventional tobacco products (CTPs) has been linked to several alarming medical conditions among young adults (YAs). Considering that 96% of YAs own mobile phones, SMS text messaging may be an effective strategy for tobacco risk communication. Objective: Project Debunk is a community-based randomized trial aiming to identify specific types of messages that effectively improve perceived NETP and CTP risk among YAs in community colleges. Methods: With YAs recruited offline from 3 campuses at the Houston Community College (September 2016 to July 2017), we conducted a 6-month randomized trial with 8 arms based on the combination of 3 message categories: framing (gain-framed vs loss-framed), depth (simple vs complex), and appeal (emotional vs rational). Participants received fully automated web-based SMS text messages in two 30-day campaigns (2 messages per day). We conducted repeated-measures mixed-effect models stratified by message type received, predicting perceived CTP and NETP risks. Owing to multiple testing with 7 models, an association was deemed significant for P<.007 (.05 divided by 7). Results: A total of 636 participants completed the baseline survey, were randomized to 1 of 8 conditions (between 73 and 86 participants per condition), and received messages from both campaigns. By the 2-month post campaign 2 assessment point, 70.1% (446/636) completed all outcome measures. By the end of both campaigns, participants had a significant increase in perceived NETP risk over time (P<.001); however, participants had a marginal increase in perceived CTP risk (P=.008). Separately for each group, there was a significant increase in perceived NETP risk among participants who received rational messages (P=.005), those who received emotional messages (P=.006), those who received simple messages (P=.003), and those who received gain-framed messages (P=.003). Conclusions: In this trial, YAs had an increase in perceived NETP risk. However, with stratification, we observed a significant increase in perceived NETP risk upon exposure to rational, emotional, simple, and gain-framed messages. In addition, YAs generally had an increase in perceived CTP risk and presented nonsignificant but observable improvement upon exposure to emotional, complex, and loss-framed messages. With the results of this study, researchers and practitioners implementing mobile health programs may take advantage of our tailored messages through larger technology-based programs such as smartphone apps and social media campaigns. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03457480; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03457480 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/10977 
%M 34822339
%R 10.2196/25618
%U https://mhealth.jmir.org/2021/11/e25618
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/25618
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34822339