Social Media Vaping Cessation Pilot With Peer Mentors

University of California, San Francisco27 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to understand the feasibility and acceptability of integrating peer mentoring into a social media-based intervention to help adolescents and young adults quit e-cigarette use.

This study is a one-arm pilot trial with adolescent and young adult e-cigarette users. This study tested a peer-mentored program to help teens and young adults quit vaping using social media. Participants joined one of two inter groups and received messages from a trained counselor over 5 weeks. Each group also included two peer mentors who had successfully quit vaping and offered support. Participants completed surveys before and after the program.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Vaping Social Support

Interventions

Quit the Hit (QTH) Program with Peer MentoringBEHAVIORAL

The QTH program delivered 1-3 evidence-based vaping cessation messages per weekday via Instagram over 5 weeks. Peer mentors, aged similarly to participants and who had successfully quit vaping, provided social support, encouragement, and one-on-one direct messaging.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 13 YearsMax age: 29 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion criteria for intervention participants: 1. English literacy; 2. aged 13 to 21; 3. use social media at least four days per week; 4. vape at least once per week in the past 30 days; 5. are considering or interested in quitting within the next six months or 30 days; and 6. resided in California. Inclusion criteria for peer mentors: 1. English literacy; 2. aged 18-29; 3. have quit e-cigarettes for more than 3 months; 4. are willing to participate in an approximately 2-hour online training and pass the test after training; and 5. will commit to provide support to help peers quit vaping in Instagram groups for 5 weeks (approximately 20 mins/day). Exclusion criteria for intervention participants: Individuals who do not meet the inclusion criteria. Exclusion criteria for peer mentors: Those who report using other tobacco products or substances and those with active mental health conditions will be excluded

Locations (1)

University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, California, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Feasibility: Engagement and retention

Engagement measured by number of posts and likes in the Instagram group. Retention defined as proportion completing the 5-week follow-up survey.

Time frame: 5 Weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Perceived Usefulness of Peer Mentoring

Perceived usefulness was assessed in the follow-up survey with 9 statements, measuring agreement using a 5-point Likert scale (1 disagree a lot to 5 agree a lot). Example items included "the peer mentors helped me quit vaping," "the peer mentors shared useful information on quitting," and "the peer mentors increased my confidence that I can quit."

Time frame: 5 Weeks

Satisfaction with Peer Mentoring

Satisfaction with peer mentoring was assessed with six statements on the follow-up survey, measuring agreement using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = disagree a lot to 5 = agree a lot). Items included "I liked the peer mentoring in the program," "I felt comfortable with the messages I got from peer mentors," "the peer mentors sent messages at convenient times of day," etc. Additionally, participants rated their satisfaction with the quantity of peer mentor posts on a 5-point scale by responding to the item

Time frame: 5 Weeks

Evaluation of the program

The overall evaluation of the peer mentored vaping cessation program was measured using four statements, measuring agreement on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = disagree a lot to 5 = agree a lot). The four items were "I would recommend this program to others", "The program gave me something new to think about", "I thought about what I read in the program", and "The program was easy to understand."

Time frame: 5 Weeks

Self-Reported 7-Day Point Prevalent Abstinence (PPA) from vaping

7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) will be assessed via the question about the number of days they used e-cigarettes in the past 7 days at the end of the intervention. Participants reporting no vaping in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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