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The University of North Carolina Receives Grant to Study Using Texts Against Teen Vaping

A grant of $3.35 million has been awarded to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to work on developing effective messaging techniques that discourage teens from using e-cigarettes.

Diane Caruana

August 6, 2020

According to an article by Triangle Business Journal, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has selected Prof. Seth Noar, from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, to lead the five-year national study.

The aim of the research is identifying the most promising messaging techniques directed at adolescents, with the intention of deterring them from using e-cigarettes.

The total funding for this study is of $3.35 million, and according to Noar, the aim is identifying the most promising messaging techniques directed at adolescents, with the intention of deterring them from using e-cigarettes. Subsequently, any selected messages will be evaluated in a randomized trial, to determine whether they actually lead to a reduction in e-cigarette use or not.

“We believe our study will enable us to address a critical gap in tobacco control research by developing effective communications that strengthen adolescents’ commitment to avoid e-cigarettes and reduce e-cigarette use,” said Noar. “Our findings will inform local, state and national efforts to prevent e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction among adolescents.”

“The use of e-cigarettes among adolescents is alarmingly high, prompting the FDA to call it an epidemic,” added Noar. “It is critically important that we develop evidence-based health communication approaches to strengthen young people’s commitment to avoid vaping and prevent subsequent nicotine addiction. … to date, there have been a dearth of efforts to systematically develop and study communication approaches to effective e-cigarette and vaping prevention.”

AHA also awards grant to study teen vaping

Researchers at the Ohio State University have also recently received a grant to conduct an e-cig study. A total of $5.5 million was donated by the American Heart Association (AHA) to study the health effects of e-cigarettes on minors, with the aim of developing vaping cessation programs.

On the 21st of April, the AHA announced almost $17 million in grants, as part of its ENACT: End Nicotine Addiction in Children and Teens research initiative. The study in Ohio will be led by Peter J. Mohler, vice dean of research at The Ohio State College of Medicine and director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, and researchers from the Center for Tobacco Research at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.

They will be joined by colleagues from the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Engineering, to collaborate on the two-year project called VERIFY: Vaping’s End through Research and Innovation For Youth. “This study engages experts across our medical center and health sciences colleges collaborating together,” said Dr. Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs at The Ohio State University and CEO of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “It’s vital to better understand what gets our youth addicted, the long term effects on the lungs and heart and which cessation efforts are most effective.”