Receiving interactive, personalized text messages helps teens quit vaping, new study finds.
- A new study shows the effectiveness of an interactive, personalized text messaging program in helping teens quit vaping nicotine.
- Participants who received the interactive text message program were 35% more likely to report no nicotine use at the end of the study.
- Additionally, their dropout rate was 37.8% compared to 28% in the control group.
The electronic cigarette has become the companion of many teenagers. However, this product exposes to several chemical substances. Health professionals have tried to help young people stop vaping nicotine thanks to a program of sending interactive and personalized SMS messages.
The results are promising, according to their article published in the journal Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)August 7, 2024.
Interactive text message against vaping: a higher abandonment rate
For the study, conducted between 2021 and 2023, researchers recruited 1,503 adolescents aged 13 to 17 from across the United States who reported using an e-cigarette in the past 30 days and wanted to quit. Half of them received interactive text messages as part of a vaping cessation program. Results: These volunteers were 35% more likely to report not using nicotine at the seven-month follow-up. In addition, quit rates were 37.8% among these volunteers, compared to 28% in the control group.
“For many years, health professionals, teachers and parents have wondered how to help teens quit vaping,” said Dr. Amanda Graham, director of health at Truth Initiative and principal investigator of the study in a press release. We had data to tell us what works.”
Another piece of good news from the research: young people who stopped vaping thanks to interactive text messages do not seem to have turned to tobacco after putting their e-cigarettes away.
A tool to help fight addiction
“This study is a major advance that demonstrates the power of relatively simple technology to change behavior. Text messages serve as powerful reminders of an initial commitment to quit smoking and can deliver proven behavior change support directly to a young person’s phone.”says Dr Amanda Graham.
The researchers also noted that the message-based vaping cessation program was particularly effective among subgroups defined by ethnicity, gender, or those with higher levels of nicotine addiction, smoking, mental health problems, and family dysfunction.
“Additional analyses requested by the JAMA editorial team focused on the use of combustible tobacco products, as the transition from vaping to smoking often raises concerns. Although this program does not explicitly address smoking, it was effective in reducing dual use (smoking and vaping) and preventing adolescents in this study from initiating smoking.”the author specifies.
