|Year : 2015 | Volume
| Issue : 3 | Page : 250-253
A study on adolescents to assess the impact of pictorial and textual warnings on panels of smoked and smokeless tobacco products in Western Maharashtra, India
Anand Thakur1, KM Shivakumar1, Snehal Patil1, KV Suresh2, Vidya Kadashetti3
1 Department of Public Health Dentistry, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University, Karad, Maharashtra, India
2 Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University, Karad, Maharashtra, India
3 Department of Oral Pathology, Microbiology and Forensic Odontology, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University, Karad, Maharashtra, India
|Date of Web Publication||14-Sep-2015|
K M Shivakumar
Department of Public Health Dentistry, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University, Karad - 415 110, Maharashtra
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
Introduction: Various pictorial and textual warnings are depicted with a hope that they will deter the individuals from using tobacco and inform them regarding the risks of tobacco. Yet there is lack of information regarding the comprehension of these signs by the adolescents. Aims: The aim was to explore the perception of the adolescents regarding the pictorial and textual warnings on tobacco packs. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 adolescents of Satara district using simple random sampling technique. A specially designed questionnaire was administered to assess understanding, credibility and persuasiveness of the pictorial and textual warnings on panel of smoked and chewable tobacco. A model containing the pictorial and textual warnings on panel of smoked and smokeless tobacco products were shown to the study subjects. Chi-square test was used for intergroup comparisons based on gender and age of the participants. The statistical analysis of data were done using SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Nearly one-third of the study participants had often noticed warnings on tobacco packs in the last month, had sometimes read or looked closely at the warnings on tobacco packs in the last month and had rarely talked with anyone about these warnings. About more than two-third of the study participants had found the warning related pictures as not easy to understand, not believable and that these images did not deter them from the likely use of tobacco, and it did not stop them from using tobacco.
Conclusion: We can infer that the textual and pictorial warnings failed to have desired deterrent impact on the adolescent who tend to initiate or continue the tobacco use despite the warning.
Keywords: Adolescents, perception, pictorial warnings, tobacco
|How to cite this article:|
Thakur A, Shivakumar K M, Patil S, Suresh K V, Kadashetti V. A study on adolescents to assess the impact of pictorial and textual warnings on panels of smoked and smokeless tobacco products in Western Maharashtra, India. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2015;13:250-3
|How to cite this URL:|
Thakur A, Shivakumar K M, Patil S, Suresh K V, Kadashetti V. A study on adolescents to assess the impact of pictorial and textual warnings on panels of smoked and smokeless tobacco products in Western Maharashtra, India. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent [serial online] 2015 [cited 2021 Sep 26];13:250-3. Available from: https://www.jiaphd.org/text.asp?2015/13/3/250/165243
| Introduction|| |
Tobacco in smoke and smokeless form is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide. With over 8 million deaths projected to be attributable to smoking by the year 2020, smoking has been described as a major public health scourge of modern times. 
Government of India has been taking initiative with regards to the ban of sale of tobacco products, placing pictorial warnings on the tobacco packets, advertising related to the vices of tobacco use and also has been contemplating about raising the taxes on tobacco products. The