Multicultural Campaign Resh Oview_12_20_13

Focus Group Study of Youth Reactions to Creative Advertising Concepts Designed to Reduce Tobacco Use among Multicultural Youth

Rescue Social Change Group Research Approach Overview

In support of FDA’s efforts to inform the public on tobacco-related health issues, the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) will conduct non-generalizable marketing research to inform the development of brand and creative concepts. This research study is also a pilot and is part of a phased approach to the formative research for FDA’s Multicultural Youth Tobacco Prevention Campaign (Multicultural Campaign). This study will inform the development of the pilot campaign. This study is necessary to help CTP refine the detailed pilot marketing strategies that will inform its national-level formative research efforts.

CTP has contracted Rescue Social Change Group (Rescue SCG), a social marketing and research agency, to develop the pilot campaign, which is focused on Hip Hop culture and youth that identify with Hip Hop culture. The following document contains information related to Rescue SCG’s general research approach, proprietary picture selection instrument, and standard consent procedures and methodology as relevant to the current study.

General Research Approach

Rescue SCG is a research and marketing company specializing in development of health promotion campaigns that target particular cultural subpopulations, or peer crowds. Researchers utilize expertly crafted qualitative and quantitative methodologies to understand how culture, identity, and social environments influence risk behaviors in particular peer crowds of interest. In turn, this research approach is specifically designed to inform development of health promotion campaigns that are tailored to appeal to the identified at-risk peer crowd(s). Rescue SCG has experience and knowledge specific to Hip Hop culture and Hip Hop youth that are particularly relevant to the pilot Multicultural campaign.

Picture Selection Instrument

The Screener and Check-In Survey in the present study both contain a picture selection instrument used to measure youth peer crowd affiliation. This picture selection instrument is Rescue SCG’s proprietary approach to measuring peer crowds, utilized in research across the US and Canada. Data collected about peer crowd tobacco use utilizing this instrument has also been published in a peer-reviewed public health journal (Lee et al., 2013). As the pilot campaign is focused on Hip Hop culture, potential participants will be selected based on their Hip Hop identification as assessed by the Screener. Finally, because Screener data will not be obtained for official analysis, participants who attend focus groups will complete the picture selection activity one more time as part of the focus group Check-In Survey. Rescue SCG is utilizing photos of paid models in the research conducted for which they have obtained full consent and authority.

Consent and Assent Procedures

Due to differences in maturity and autonomy between participants that are middle school and high school-aged, parental consent procedures will be different for each cohort. Participants who are under the age of 13 will be required to have a signed Parental Consent Form prior to participating in a focus group. For participants who are 13 years of age or older, passive parental consent (Parental Opt-Out Form) will be used.

1. For participants under 13 years of age: Parents/guardians will be complete a consent form prior to the teen’s participation in the focus group.

2. For participants 13 and over: Potential participants over 13 years of age will receive a Parental Opt-Out Form. The Parental Opt-Out Form will provide clear and simple instructions for how to opt-out of participation in the research study, including multiple forms of contact for the parent to exercise that option. If a potential participant’s parent contacts the co-PIs to opt-out of participation, the youth’s name will be added to the bottom portion of the list with a clear indicator that his/her parent did not provide consent. Thus, the youth will not be eligible for participation.

Regardless of age, teens who are invited to participate will complete a youth assent form prior to participation in a focus group.

Counterbalancing Methodology

Rescue SCG follows standard marketing research and survey development counterbalancing methodology whenever possible. Counterbalancing refers to the method of systematically varying the order of stimuli or questions in a survey. This method greatly reduces effects due to viewing one concept directly after another, thereby reducing error. As such, there are two versions of the Hip Hop Brand Test Survey (Version A & B) in the current study. Each group of participants will see either Version A or Version B, in which the content of the survey questions and response options will be identical, but the order of their presentation on the paper survey will vary. Specifically, Version B items are presented in reverse to items in Version A. The same logic follows for the six Hip Hop creative concept storyboards to be tested in focus groups. Each group of participants will see Version A or Version B of the ad concepts. That is, the same 6 ad concepts will be included in both Version A and Version B; the version simply refers to the order in which the ads will be presented.

References

Lee, Y. O., Jordan, J. W., Djakaria, M. D., & Ling, P. M. (In press, Online 2013). Using peer crowds to segment black youth for smoking intervention. Health Promotion Practice. Online version: http://hpp.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/04/26/1524839913484470

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