UW-CTRI recently began recruiting teens and young adults nationwide to participate in a qualitative study about their engagement with programs to help them quit vaping.
The recruitment is via social media and is open to people ages 14 to 24 nationwide.
After a virtual interview, participants will get a $50 Amazon gift card.
To learn more or sign up, click here.
It’s funded by a $967,000 5-year K08 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to UW-CTRI Researcher and UW Health Pediatric and Internal Medicine Hospitalist Dr. Brian Williams.
While researchers don’t yet know the full extent of the long-term health effects of vaping, they do have evidence that nicotine alters the adolescent brain. It increases teens’ and young adults’ risk for:
- Worse mental health.
- Damaged smile.
- Sleep problems.
- Impulsivity.
- Frequent headaches.
- Mood disorders.
- Stunted learning and recall.
- Diminished enjoyment of activities they normally adore.
- Long-term nicotine addiction.
Yet to date, there have been only two randomized controlled trials on how to help youth quit vaping, one of which studied “This is Quitting,” a popular national texting program designed by TRUTH to help youth ditch vaping. It’s now part of the “Ex program.” Researchers found evidence that This is Quitting (Ex) increased quit rates.
“Our goal with this new study is to improve understanding of how to engage adolescents and young adults in vaping cessation treatment,” Williams said, “and to ultimately discover how best to help them to quit.”
The qualitative interviews will seek to understand whether specific reward systems could promote engagement.
“The goal is that this information can then be incorporated into our AIM 3 clinical trial that we are beginning to build,” said Williams.
To learn more or sign up, click here.