Health Research Case Study: Evaluation of The SmokeScreen Mediology

Who for: Leicester City NHS STOP! Smoking Service.

Methods: Good practice literature review, pre-intervention online surveys, post-intervention online surveys, consultation (both by phone and face-to-face interviews) with stakeholders, quantitative data analysis of surveys and service data, qualitative data analysis of stakeholder consultations, and final evaluation report.

Description: This involved an evaluation of the SmokeScreen Mediology, an innovative campaign to prevent young people taking up smoking. It focused on making young people aware of how smoking is presented in the media (such as films, music videos, computer games and fashion) by highlighting how product placement and other tactics are used by the tobacco industry to encourage young people to start smoking. The call to action was to ask young people to support the campaign by pledging to ‘#UNFOLLOW’ the tobacco industry and ultimately to not become one of the estimated 6 million people globally that die each year from smoking related causes. The campaign took their message into schools delivering interactive and engaging presentations. It made use of innovative new media including social media (Twitter and Facebook) and The SmokeScreen Mediology branded goods.

Actionable Outputs: The evaluation report provided insights into the effectiveness of the campaign and made a number of recommendations for future work. The service was able to use the evaluation to share their outcomes with colleagues and wider audiences, promulgate good practice and fine-tune their future approach.