Motivation to quit smoking and acceptability of shocking warnings on cigarette packages in Lebanon.

Introduction: Health warnings on tobacco packages have been considered an essential pillar in filling the gap of knowledge and communicating the health risks of tobacco use to consumers. Our primary objective was to report the perception of smokers on the textual health warnings already appearing on tobacco packages in Lebanon versus shocking pictures about the health-related smoking consequences and to evaluate their impact on smoking behaviors and motivation.

Methods: A pilot cross-sectional study was undertaken between 2013 and 2015 in five hospitals in Lebanon.