. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Apr 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Community Health. 2016 Apr;41(2):211–219. doi: 10.1007/s10900-015-0084-3

Table 2.

Dominant Focus Group Themes and Findings by Age Category

	Ages 18–39 years old	Ages 40+ years old
Theme:
Quitting Smoking	• Cessation on their own “terms” -- “if I’m ready, I’ll quit” – little discussion of addiction; more about personal choice.	• We need help, no longer a personal choice --addictive properties/ illegal drug comparison; lack of control/influence on tobacco industry
Media/PSAs	• Impact of media & anti-smoking commercials; familiar with images, distastefulness of smoking	• Theme not expressed
Social Media/Internet	• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube; access- mobile phones & laptops; texting; not used for health-related purposes	• Facebook; access- mobile phones & laptops; limited texting; not used for health-related purposes
Automated call messaging for Quitting	• Limited experiences; familiar with automated calls from health provider and experience from political campaigns	• Limited experiences and interested in automated call, but not every day; not familiar with automated calls from health provider; but experiences from political campaigns
Perceptions of Tobacco Companies	•“Robbing you” and “trying to kill us”; profiting from destroying smokers’ health	• Tobacco companies and government are working together; government should protect us by regulating tobacco as a drug.