Investigation of smoking media literacy framework
Introduction
Among the most significant risk factors in the world, today as well as a significant public concern is smoking. This is a risk that is affecting both the developing and the developed countries, reports, WHO, 2015. Smoking has been reported to cause up to 20 million deaths since 1964 in the United States. This is according to a report submitted by the Surgeon General’s report of 2014 (USDHHS, 2014). It is approximated that one-third of the deaths caused by the coronary disease is as a result of smoking, as well as half of all deaths resulting in lung cancer, (USDHHS, 2014). The act of smoking is also linked with chronic respiratory illnesses and the diseases affecting the gastro-digestive track (Eriksen, Mackay & Ross, 2012). The impacts of Tobacco impact the body of human beings despite the age of the user. The chemicals found in Tobacco harm almost all the human body organs of both the young and the old, (USDHHHS, 2012). Young people who smoke are therefore at the risk of being addicts to nicotine, respiratory as well as cardiovascular damage of the systems. US DHHS, 2012 reports that prolonged exposure to smoking affects the body leading to injury. Young people who smoke are therefore more at risk of asthma, allergy symptoms, and several health complications like breath shortage. These symptoms, in turn, affects their physical as well as their athletic performances (Foster et al., 2007). Addiction to nicotine has also been reported to harm the developing brains of young people who engage in smoking (Sternberg, 2007). This report will discuss the young people of Indonesia and their smoking behavior. It will also look at an intervention framework to help in reducing the number of young people smoking. A study will, after that, be conducted to investigate the impact of the intervention on smoking young people.
Background
The world largest consumers of cigarettes include China, Russia, America, and Indonesia, respectively. In Indonesia, for instance, the country produces up to 360 billion pieces of cigarettes annually, making it a great producer and exporter of cigarettes in the world (Euromonitor, 2014). The world health Organization, together with the Centers for disease control and prevention, have therefore developed programs that help n monitoring the use of Tobacco among the young between the ages of 13-15 years. Among these programs is the Global Youth Tobacco Survey. The USDHHS reports that almost all tobacco use starts at a young age. The daily smokers say that they started smoking when they were young, and now they are addicts and cannot go a day without their nicotine puff. Steinberg, 2014, reports that the young age is an age that is vulnerable to the influences of society. Some of these influences come by through the marketing of tobacco products in the media, advertising of Tobacco by models who are the youngsters’ role models and in movies and also through peer pressure from older adolescents who have already started on smoking (Dalton et al., 2009). Childhood and adolescence is the time where young peoples’ sensitivity is heightened in terms of normative influences. This means that if the public generally tolerates public tobacco use, then the young people will only follow the example set by their peers and adults around them.
Indonesia is the fourth-largest cigarette consumer in the world. In Indonesia, the marketing of cigarettes is aggressive and intentional since the companies producing cigarettes spend a lot of resources annually in marketing their products. The tobacco industries in Indonesia are among the primary sources of revenue to the Indonesian government. These industries are supported both politically and financially by the government (Nichter et al., 2009). In this case, there is no policy or ban put in place in the country to control the smoking of cigarettes among the young. Through the support of industries manufacturing the Tobacco, to the mass media promotion on smoking through advertisements and movies, there is little to no effort in stopping or even limiting smoking among the young in Indonesia (WHO, 2008). The above factors make the country’s population to be exposed to cigarettes in one form or another in their entire lives. This makes Indonesia be the country in the world with the highest number of tobacco users in the world (Aditama, 2006).
According to a survey carried out in Indonesia, 3 out of 5 students report that within a month, they have someone smoke on the television, internet or in a video. In another case, 9 out of 10 students said to have seen advertisements on billboards on cigarettes, whereas 8 out of 10 students, saw cigarette adverts in newspapers and magazines (WHO, 2015). With this information, studies indicate that exposure to pro-tobacco messages to the mass media affects the smoking vulnerability of a smoking young (Sarget, Gibson & Heartheton, 2009). The exposure to these mass media advertising also lowers ones attempt to quit smoking among the youth. It has also been discovered that tobacco marketing through movies and videos increases a youth’s initiation to smoking more than any other type of influence (Dalton et al., 2003). This is because the pro-tobacco advertisements in the movies deem smoking as an acceptable and luxury behavior that is both socially and environmentally accepted.
There is also a high number of other youths in Indonesia known as the ever Smokers. These are the youths who have tried to smoke once in their lives, and they decided to not go on with their pursuit of smoking. The saddening news is that some of the discovered smokers ever had tied to smoke when they were less than ten years. This discovery showcases the urgent need of the country of Indonesia in terms of the large number as well as the increasing number of youth smokers. Nurwidya et al., 2014, argues that the health effects of smoking are more severe compared to those of other drugs like alcohol or obesity. An increase in the number of smokers results in immortality from the diseases caused by the use of Tobacco (Martini & Sulistyowati, 2005). In addition, there has been a rise in the frequency of non- communicable diseases in Indonesia, and it has been linked to the rise in the number of regular smokers.
Setting up of policies against Tobacco is a dead chance in Indonesia. The industry is second in providing employments after the government institutions, and it also makes a large amount of revenue to the country. In addition to this, the tobacco product is the fourth commodity exported by the state after oil, timber, and gas (Nichter et al., 2009). There are fundamental reasons as to why tobacco control is a hard task in Indonesia. First is that the tobacco industry supports the majority of the population in terms of clove farmers, employees in the factories, distributors, and shop owners selling the products. A restriction on the Tobacco in Indonesia could case millions of homeless and starved families. Second, is the fact that the tobacco industry is a significant revenue earner for the government. The third reason is that there is no commitment by the government decision-makers to establish policies and regulations that are strict on smoking and the industries of Tobacco in the country. There is easy accessibility of cigarettes from venders and stores to youths since there are no regulations or policies that restrict the sale of Tobacco to young people ((Martini & Sulistyowati, 2005). The young people of Indonesia report that they purchase their cigarettes from the stores, and no one has ever refused them from buying despite being of a young age (WHO, 2015). In addition to this, during big promotions of Tobacco, the young people are given a lot of free cigarettes in malls, and entertainments centers, thus encouraging adolescent smoking.
The best solution to the smoking problem among the youth today would be reducing the pro0tobacco exposer to media among the young persons. This method could be challenging to accomplish, and therefore, tobacco literacy should go hand in hand with the pro-tobacco media limited exposure. Media literacy is the capability to access, analyze, and evaluate the messages from the media and the will to implement the academic skills for health benefits (Jordan, 2010). The main objective of media literacy would be to decrease the impact caused by pro-tobacco media adverts through educating the young on the adverse effects brought about by the media messages on the use of Tobacco. Through media literacy, the youth will be able to critically assess how the media uses models to normalize and glamorize unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors, an example of smoking. Media literacy on Tobacco, therefore, makes a proper development of innovative tobacco programs that are directed on the young people. The theory of reasoned action argues that a person’s behavior is determined by the behavioral intention resulting from personal norms and attitudes (Ajzan & Fishbein, 1998). Empirical studies show that media literacy on smoking has helped to reduce the smoking rate among the youth (Salgado et al., 2012).
Research aims and Objectives
Smoking among young people has become a global epidemic, just like in adults, smoking presents severe health implications for young people in the world. The impacts of Tobacco impact the body of human beings despite the age of the user. The chemicals found in smoking harm almost all the human body organs of both the young and the old. Young people who smoke are therefore at the risk of being addicts to nicotine, respiratory as well as cardiovascular damage of the systems. The purpose of this report is to counter some of these effects through the intervention of young people smoking using the smoking media literacy framework. The study aims to investigate is smoking media literacy framework is a reasonable intervention among the current young smokers in Indonesia and also if the media literacy will help the nonsmokers and the ever smokers in their decision about future smoking.
Research questions
Is smoking media literacy associated with current smoking in the sample of youth in Indonesia?
Is smoking media literacy associated with smoking vulnerability among those who never smoked in the sample of youth in Indonesia?
Methodology
The methodology of the study is build on the qualitative method of data collection to find out the relationship between smoking media literacy and young smokers as well as those who have never smoked or have only smoked once in their lives.
The study design used is nonexperimental research design. The plan will be a cross-sectional survey. This is because a sample of the population will be deduced. There will be no use of a control experiment nor their manipulation of any variable. The study will rely strictly on observation and survey of the selected sample population. Since the design of the research is nonexperimental, it will be challenging to determine the cause and effect association. The research sample will be got from the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta since it is densely populated. Since the town is populous, then the sample selection will be adequate and will be able to represent the overall humans in the whole of Indonesia. On the other hand, the city being the capital city, it presents transparent and easy access to all the statistical figures of the country of Indonesia such as schools and students who are vital in the research.
The sample of the research will involve both male and female students, more so those in secondary school: this includes the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. The sampling design used will be the probability design of sampling. A two-way cluster sample design was used to ensure that the results obtained were nationally represented all students in Indonesia. The first stage involves the sampling of several secondary schools. The other phase will include a sample of classes from these selected schools from the early’s scene. The date is given states that there are 958 secondary schools in Indonesia, 365,856 students in all the districts in Jakarta.
To measure the independent variable, the SML scale will be used. The independent variable is media literacy. The level will have three components: the audience and authors (AA), the meaning and messages (mm), and the reality and representation (RR). The MM component represents how tobacco products are marketed using strategies that are comprehensive to deduce an emotional response. The RR is the awareness of the lifestyle presented by the media and the real implications of cigarettes on the human body The AA represents the information on the cigarette industries and their manipulative tactics on the consumer market.
The dependent variable, which is the smoking of the youth, will be measured by dividing the smokers and never smokers. The students will be groups into groups of those who have smoked a cigarette in 30 days from the onset of the survey and those who have never smoked. The assessment will, however, be done on the never smokers on their intention about smoking in the future.
Analysis
The expected finding of the research is showing the effects of smoking media literacy on the smoking behavior of the youth. The behavior cuts across those currently smoking and those vulnerable to smoking in the future. According to the research, students who were more exposed to smoking literacy media were less likely to engage in smoking in the future. According to the study, 19% of the sample reported having tried to smoke before the age of 10 years, while 47% had smoked once in their lives. The others were smokers and are still smoking.
The study showed that after the smokers were exposed to smoking media literacy, the intent to stop smoking was found among the students. This is after knowing the truth about the real side effects of cigarettes on the health and not the false lifestyle and health portrayed by the pro-tobacco media. 53% of the smokers reported to not having adequate knowledge of the implications of smoking in their health and studies, and they promised to change their smoking behavior. The other 47% reported that they are not addicts, but they will slowly stop smoking when they are adults with responsibilities. For the nonsmokers and the ever smokers, there was an unfavorable vulnerability of them smoking in the future after exposure to the media literacy on smoking.
Ethical Considerations
In the process of the study, all ethical producers were considered in the collection of data, and the surveys are done. Parental and individual consents were involved since the sample included young individuals who were still in school. The only issue encountered was the fear of the subject’s names being exposed, but confidentiality was promised, and the contract signed to ensure the privacy and safety of the participants.
Conclusion
The study is an excellent step as it will help in persuading the government to establish better regulations and policies against marketing and promotion of tobacco products in Indonesia. Even though this is only one regulation, it will help in setting the path for the formulation of other policies concerning young people smoking. Smoking is an epidemic facing the world. Smokers, whether young or old, are in severe dangers of the effects of smoking and the implications of Tobacco affects all the users regardless of their age. Adolescent people smoking is, however, saddening as it causes effects such as the chemicals found in smoking harm almost all the human body organs of both the young and the old. Young people who smoke are therefore at the risk of being addicts to nicotine, respiratory as well as cardiovascular damage of the systems. Young people who smoke are more at risk of asthma, allergy symptoms, and several health complications like breath shortage. These symptoms, in turn, affects their physical as well as their athletic performances. Addiction to nicotine has also been reported to harm the developing brains of young people who engage in smoking. The best solution for young people who smoke is media literacy. These effects cause the loss of young, energetic individuals who are the future of the world. The study conducted aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the media literacy intervention on young people who smoke to help in creating awareness of the dangers of smoking. This is based on the research that many young people start smoking as a result of media influence on the false impacts of Tobacco. According to the study, smoking media literacy is an excellent framework of regulating the number of young people smoking as well as the health implications awareness of smoking among the youth.