Developing cancer warning statements for alcoholic beverages

BMC Public Health

Wenbin Liang²  David Glance³  Iain S Pratt⁴  Terry Slevin⁴  Tanya Chikritzhs²  Michelle Jongenelis¹  Simone Pettigrew¹ 

[1] School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth 6845, Australia;National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Australia;UWA Centre for Software Practice, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia;Cancer Council Western Australia, Perth, Australia

关键词: Attitudes;    Prevention;    Warning labels;    Alcohol;   

Others  :  1128831
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-786

 received in 2014-06-13, accepted in 2014-07-25,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

There is growing evidence of the increased cancer risk associated with alcohol consumption, but this is not well understood by the general public. This study investigated the acceptability among drinkers of cancer warning statements for alcoholic beverages.

Methods

Six focus groups were conducted with Australian drinkers to develop a series of cancer-related warning statements for alcohol products. Eleven cancer warning statements and one general health warning statement were subsequently tested on 2,168 drinkers via an online survey. The statements varied by message frame (positive vs negative), cancer reference (general vs specific), and the way causality was communicated (‘increases risk of cancer’ vs ‘can cause cancer’).

Results

Overall, responses to the cancer statements were neutral to favorable, indicating that they are unlikely to encounter high levels of negative reaction from the community if introduced on alcoholic beverages. Females, younger respondents, and those with higher levels of education generally found the statements to be more believable, convincing, and personally relevant. Positively framed messages, those referring to specific forms of cancer, and those using ‘increases risk of cancer’ performed better than negatively framed messages, those referring to cancer in general, and those using the term ‘can cause cancer’.

Conclusion

Cancer warning statements on alcoholic beverages constitute a potential means of increasing awareness about the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Pettigrew et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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