An Anti-vaping Advocacy Group's Community Project to Reduce Child and Adolescent E-cigarette Use

Background: E-cigarettes (vape pens, mods, and pod systems) are now the most commonly used tobacco product by US adolescents with a prevalence of 1 in 20 among middle schoolers and 1 in 5 among high schoolers reporting “ever use” - 3.6 million youth in 2020. Often marketed as a healthier, safer alternative to cigarettes, these products are poorly regulated with limited understanding of their health effects. Preliminary understanding of e-cigarettes use and outcomes have lead The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Surgeon General’s advisory to ask parents, teachers, and health care professionals to take action to protect our nation’s youth from the dangers of e-cigarette use and exposure.

In our local community, nearly 30% of youth reported ever using vaping products by 12th grade with numbers increasing annually. Our Anti-Vaping Advocacy Group (AVAG) was established to address this concerning epidemic. Composed of pediatric residents passionate about promoting awareness on the prevalence & health impact of e-cigarette use in our city’s youth, we aim to become a prominent center for vaping related education and training in our community.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to school administrators, general pediatricians, psychiatrists and substance abuse counselors during the 2020-2021 school year to assess knowledge about and current education regarding vaping.

Results: Limited initial data (n=10) from an ongoing survey shows that only half of local school administrators feel vaping is a problem in their school. 70% report limited anti-vaping education for students with only 30% reporting formal staff training, and 10% reporting parent education. All school survey responders wanted more education on vaping (Figure 1).

Encouragingly, ~73% of surveyed pediatricians and psychiatrists (n=26 & n=19) believe vaping is a problem among their patients and ~64% report always asking about use. However, provider’s limited use of “slang” terms for these products risk potential missed opportunities for counseling. And, providers use of AAP guidelines for screening, counseling, coding and billing is limited. Surprisingly, 47% of substance use counselors and psychiatrists do not, rarely or only sometimes screen for e-cigarette use and only 42% use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), even though 73% believe that at least 25% of their patients use vaping products. Of all health care workers, >90% expressed interest in information about vaping screening and management (Figure 2).

Conclusion: Our survey results indicate a need for improvement in delivering health information around e-cigarettes and are guiding implementation of a multi-level educational program throughout our city. We are currently working to utilize an established best practice anti-vaping curriculum and educational resources to teach students, teachers, parents, and health professionals about e-cigarettes. Our goal is to decrease the prevalence of initial and overall use of e-cigarettes by children in our community.