A new study suggests that vaping cessation among young adults could be accomplished through a text message quit counseling program.
WASHINGTON — The academic journal JAMA Internal Medicine published a Truth Initiative-led clinical trial looking at the effectiveness of a vaping cessation text message program among young adult e-cigarette users.
The researcher team, consisting of others from academic institutions, found that “a text message vaping cessation program is effective in promoting abstinence among [young adult] e-cigarette users.”
“In this randomized clinical trial of 2588 [young adult] e-cigarette users, at 7 months post-randomization abstinence rates were 24.1% among participants assigned to the text message intervention and 18.6% among participants assigned to an assessment-only control, which is a statistically significant difference,” suggests the study’s findings.
“No baseline characteristics moderated the treatment-outcome relationship, including nicotine dependence.”
The study was designed to provide all participants monthly assessments via text message about their current and previous e-cigarette use.
The assessment was separated from an active intervention method that offered “a fully automated text message program for vaping cessation that delivers social support and cognitive and behavioral coping skills training.”
“Results of this randomized clinical trial demonstrated that a tailored and interactive text message intervention was effective in promoting vaping cessation among [young adults],” the researchers add. “These results establish a benchmark of intervention effectiveness.”
UPI reports that the study was built around the Truth Initiative’s “This Is Quitting” program. The program is an ongoing youth-targeted campaign that included direct marketing through social media outlets like Snapchat.
“This is Quitting as a freely available quit vaping program that young people can access easily by texting ‘DITCHVAPE’ to 88709,” said Dr. Amanda L. Graham in an email to UPI. Graham is the chief of innovations for the Truth Initiative and was the lead and corresponding author for the actual study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Clinicians, researchers, policymakers and especially parents have been desperate to find a way to help their children quit vaping for several years now,” Graham added, via UPI.
