Focus groups: a tool for developing better health education materials and approaches for smoking intervention

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Abstract
This paper describes the focus group method which although widespread in qualitative marketing research, is relatively new in the field of health education. Advice to the Friend of a Smoker, a material which was part of one of the American Quit and Win campaigns, was found to be suitable for encouraging social support at work sites for Swedish civil servants in the process of quitting smoking. Focus group interviews were used to test a translation of the material. Participants were municipal employees representing a broad spectrum of employment categories and work sites in Stockholm. Participants' suggestions and criticisms brought to light both linguistic and cultural weaknesses in the material which in turn facilitated adaptation to Sweden in general and to Swedish young women in particular. In addition, participation in the interviews served as a catalyst in the change process. The focus group method has been found to be useful in cross cultural adaption of health educa tional materials, and could even be applied when designing health education materials aimed at specific groups within cultures.

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