Enhance tobacco health messages against addiction with sensory reality - funded by the French Institute for Public Health Research (IREsP) and National Cancer Institute (INCa).

At present, we do not know the real effectiveness of the public prevention campaigns currently in use. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of prevention programmes implemented on a large scale in the field and to identify levers of action aimed at improving them. Using virtual reality, we seek to address this problem by (I) first, evaluating current prevention campaigns by recreating a virtual city in which participants will encounter prevention posters as they do in our daily lives, and (II) by trying to understand what really activates cravings for cigarettes by placing individuals in everyday situations involving cigarette consumption. This will allow us to better understand the mechanisms leading to tobacco consumption, by collecting them in ecological situations. It will also allow us to test the effectiveness of interventions aimed at helping individuals to stop smoking. This knowledge can then be applied to the fields of prevention and health to improve future anti-smoking prevention campaigns. This project is led by the University of Paris Nanterre in collaboration with the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam and funded by the French Institute for Public Health Research (IREsP) and National Cancer Institute (INCa).

Oulmann Zerhouni is Associate Professor in Experimental Psychology at the University Paris Nanterre. One of his objectives is to use social cognition theory to create cognitive remediation procedures and prevention programs targeting addictive behaviours. He also works on the psychology of politically motivated behaviour and in developping integrative theoretical models of processes studied in social cognition through the neurophysiology of stress.

Marilisa Boffo is assistant professor in clinical psychology and eHealth at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Trained as a clinical psychologist and research methodologist, she combines the two worlds into the design and empirical investigation of digital interventions for behavior change.

Solenne Bonneterre is a PhD student in Social Psychology at the University Paris Nanterre. Interested in several social topics such as media influence on attitudes or psychological and physiological impact of sexism in women, she is now working on on her thesis crossing social and clinical psychology with the aim of improving anti-tobacco prevention campaign using virtual reality tools.

Consortium partners: Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam and funded by the French Institute for Public Health Research (IREsP) and National Cancer Institute (INCa).