The hard truth about the health risks of vaping could be enough to get young people to put down the e-cigarette.
Researchers at Western University showed undergraduate students from 23 universities across six provinces an eight-minute video detailing the potential consequences of the habit. What they found over the course of the 45-day study was that the educational short film was enough to make regular users want to cut back or stop vaping altogether.
“I am excited about this research because it shows our new technique has the potential to make a significant impact in the field of health promotion,” said PhD candidate Babac Salmani, who co-authored the paper with Health Sciences professor Harry Prapavessis. “Immediately after watching the intervention, they’re like ‘I want to stop.’ What’s really important to us is the consistency in that intention – it maintained a level of strength in terms of people wanting to stop vaping.”
Participants in the study were on average 22-years-old and identified themselves as regular vapers who used e-cigarettes at least three times in the month prior. Most reported vaping between five to 15 days a month before participating in the study.
The video shown to participants featured healthcare professionals talking about current research and risks of the behaviour, in addition to personal stories from people who used to vape.
Over the course of three follow-up sessions, participants were asked to complete a series of questions about how they felt about the perceived severity and vulnerability of the threats posed by vaping. Researchers found the video intervention significantly altered participants’ mindset about vaping, instilling a want to cut back. However, actual use was up and down until the end of the study when it finally dropped overall.
Salmani believes future research that definitively shows improved health from quitting or reducing vaping will better help get young people to stop vaping, the same way it has for smoking.
“It’s that same pattern of misunderstanding or misconception of the product that I believe will end up following the same linear path as cigarettes have, over the next 30 years,” Salmani said.
