Effectiveness of pictorial health warning on cigarette packages: A cross-sectional study in Sarawak, Malaysia
- Author:
Rahman MM
;
Arif MT
;
Abd Razak MF
;
Suhaili MR
;
Tambi Z
;
Akoi C
;
Gabriel Bain M
;
Hussain H
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Cigarette;
smoking;
pictorial health warning;
Sarawak
- From:Malaysian Family Physician
2015;10(3):19-26
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Introduction: Specific health warning placed on the tobacco product packages is considered as an
effective and low-cost method for increasing the knowledge and awareness among the community.
Thus, a study was conducted to assess the perception of pictorial health warnings (PHWs) against
smoking among the adult rural population of Sarawak.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 10 villages in Kota Samarahan and Kuching
Division by face to face interview using modified Global Adult Tobacco Survey questionnaire. Nonprobability
sampling method was adopted to select the villages. All the households of the selected
villages were visited and an adult member was selected randomly from each house irrespective of the
sex. After missing value imputation, 1000 data were analysed using statistical software IBM SPSS
20.0 version.
Results: Analysis showed that 28.8% of the respondents were current smokers, 7.8% were past
smokers and the rest were non-smokers. Six items of pictorial health warnings were evaluated with
five point Likert’s scales for attractiveness, fearfulness and adequacy of the information. Analysis
revealed that the majority of the respondents had perceived awareness on PHWs, but the smokers
believed that this was not adequate to make them quit smoking. Only one-fifth (19.7%) of them
reported that current pictorial health warnings were sufficient to motivate people to quit smoking.
Conclusion: Though the PHWs on cigarette packages are appealing, it is not sufficient as a reason
to stop smoking. Thus, an approach using an integrated anti-tobacco public health programme
should be focused into the specific targeted community.
- Full text:P020160719859803788115.pdf
