Testing a Self-affirmation Intervention for Use in a Mobile Application

Kent State University

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Smoking, Tobacco; Smoking; Smoking Cessation

Treatments: Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, written examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, written examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, no examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, no examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, written examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, imagined examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, imagined examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, imagined examples; Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, no examples

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03405220

17-544

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of these studies is to adapt the self-affirmation kindness questionnaire for use in a mobile application. Two studies will be conducted to test hypotheses that simplifying and shortening the original questionnaire in systematic ways will result in comparable effectiveness (compared to the original version) in promoting reduced defensive avoidance, less reactance, greater yielding, and higher intentions to quit smoking among a sample of smokers.

Full description

Research has shown that self-affirmation interventions, in which people are instructed to focus on their strengths and values, can offset self-threats and promote healthier behaviors, such as smoking cessation. A commonly used self-affirmation intervention is known as the "kindness quiz." The original kindness questionnaire (Reed & Aspinwall, 1998) consists of 10 yes/no questions, and participants are asked to think about and write down an example of each. For example, one item is "Have you ever been considerate of another person's feelings? ____ YES ____NO; IF YES, WRITE ABOUT A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE." The items were written so that all participants should be able to say "yes" in response to each question, which will affirm a positive view of themselves.

The purpose of these studies are to test shorter and simpler versions of this kindness questionnaire so that it can be implemented on mobile phones. In Study 1, we will test whether written examples are necessary for the effectiveness of the self-affirmation intervention (compared to no examples or imagined examples) compared to a control. In Study 2, we will again test whether written examples are necessary, as well as whether shorter questionnaires (i.e., 5 items or 3 items) are as effective as the original 10 item questionnaire.

Enrollment: 900 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Currently live in the US
• 21-65 years (several states have 21 as minimum legal age to smoke)
• self-identified every day or some day smoker
• no prior diagnosis of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema (the most common and well-known smoking-related diseases

Exclusion criteria

• Not currently living in the US
• Less than 21 years of age or older than 65
• Nonsmoker
• Prior diagnosis of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema (the most common and well-known smoking-related diseases

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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900 participants in 15 patient groups

Self-affirm, No examples, Study 1

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, no examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, no examples

Self-affirm, Write examples, Study 1

Active Comparator group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, written examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, written examples

Self-affirm, Imagine examples, Study 1

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, imagined examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, imagined examples

Opinion survey, No examples, Study 1

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention: control. Participants will complete the 10 item personal opinion survey and will not be asked to provide examples for any items they respond "yes" to.

Opinion survey, Write examples, Study 1

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention: control. Participants will complete the 10 item personal opinion survey and will be asked to provide written examples for each item they respond "yes" to.

Opinion survey, Imagine examples, Study1

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention: control. Participants will complete the 10 item personal opinion survey and will be asked to imagine examples for each item they respond "yes" to.

Self-affirm, 10-item, No ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, no examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, no examples

Self-affirm, 5-item, No ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, no examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, no examples

Self-affirm, 3-item, No ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, no examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, no examples

Self-affirm, 10-item, Write ex, Study 2

Active Comparator group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, written examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, written examples

Self-affirm, 5-item, Write ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, written examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, written examples

Self-affirm, 3-item, Write ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, written examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, written examples

Self-affirm, 10-item, Imagine ex, Study2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, imagined examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 10 items, imagined examples

Self-affirm, 5-item, Imagine ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, imagined examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 5 items, imagined examples

Self-affirm, 3-item, Imagine ex, Study 2

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, imagined examples

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self affirmation, 3 items, imagined examples