Although selleck kinase inhibitor messages arousing strong negative affect were consistently seen as more effective across all ethnicities, participants preferred less didactic messages: “like it

doesn’t say that you should quit- like it’s not so—‘oh you’re a bad mum—you’re smoking—you know you should stop smoking’—it’s kind of saying that you do have a choice.” These messages offered non-judgemental support, stressed quitting was a positive personal choice, and maintained participants’ autonomy: “It’s-it’s saying like ‘when you’re ready’ not like somebody trying to push you to it—to quit….Just with the fact that there’s um—freedom of choice…. You know. It’s your choice. It’s not like somebody nagging at-on you.” However, while participants often resented being advised to quit, they saw messages that appealed to their autonomy as less effective and were more likely to counter-argue these. For example, one message suggested children’s spaces, such as playgrounds, should be smoke-free: “if I was there [in a smokefree playground] I’d be way over there away from them smoking so it wouldn’t really affect them. Like that’s my mind working it out. There’s nothing too bad about it.” These rationalisations typically privileged participants’ rights: “In a way I agree but in a way I don’t because basically that’s taking away your right to like,

example, smoke in your own home…, it’s taking away your rights.” Cognitive appeals almost invariably led participants to assert their rights over those children might enjoy, and some reacted strongly against initiatives that they thought would curtail these perceived

rights. Although participants were much more likely to counter-argue rational messages than negative-affect messages, even the latter still provoked some psychological reactance. Women who had not made a quit attempt since becoming pregnant were more likely to offer rationalisations that enabled them to minimise the risk of smoking and the harm that could result: “With my first two I gave up smoking, and then my sister was smoking when she had her baby and her baby came out perfect, so when I had my third one I was smoking….and she’s all right.” Some also queried the inevitability of harm Cilengitide or attributed harm to other causes: “Some mothers—no matter not smoking—they still have prem [premature] babies, you know.. like I said, smoking isn’t the only cause to—for this particular thing.” Nevertheless, even the minority advancing these rationalisations felt unsettled by the images shown, which they conceded were disturbing. Discussion Participants recognised smoking was harmful and, despite strenuous efforts to assert they chose to smoke, most regretted smoking while pregnant and nearly all had attempted to quit. Their comments revealed tensions between the belief they chose to smoke, the addiction that undermined this belief, and the potential consequences they tried to rationalise.