Social Media Intervention to Stop Nicotine and Cannabis Vaping Among Adolescents

Social media based intervention to support teens in their efforts to quit vaping.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Vaping
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Social Media Intervention

Detailed Description

This study is a randomized controlled trial of a social media intervention to support teens in their efforts to quit vaping.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
      • University of California, San Francisco

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 21 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. English literacy
2. Age between 13-21 years
3. Indicate they use social media "most" (>= 4) days per week
4. Have vaped at least once per week in the past 30 days (90 percent of participants)
5. Access to a computer or mobile phone with photo capability to verify abstinence from vaping
6. Indicate they are considering quitting or are interested in quitting with the next 6 months or within the next 30 days
7. Currently reside in California

Exclusion Criteria:

1. No English literacy
2. Age under 13 or over 21
3. Insufficient social media use (3 or fewer days per week)
4. Have not vaped at least once per week in past 30 days
5. No access to computer or mobile phone with photo capability to verify abstinence from vaping
6. Not considering or interested in quitting vaping in the next 30 days or 6 months;
7. Not a California resident

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Vaping Intervention; The vaping intervention will be implemented on Instagram. Participants in the treatment condition will be assigned to groups on Instagram, where they will receive up to 3 posts per day for 30 days. Groups are facilitated by a trained Guide, working with the Principal Investigator, Co-Investigators and a Pediatrician on demand if additional expertise or clinical advice is needed. Participants will be educated about signs of nicotine dependence and if they express interest in pharmacotherapy will be encouraged to access this through their personal healthcare providers. The Instagram groups will provide educational and social support, troubleshooting and advice about nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or other forms of treatment.	Behavioral: Social Media Intervention; Social media based intervention using Instagram with up to 3 posts per day for 30 days
No Intervention: Control Condition; Participants in the control condition will be directed to the Truth Initiative e-cigarette texting quit program. This innovative and free text message program was created with input from teens, college students and young adults who have attempted to, or successfully, quit e-cigarettes using text coaching methods

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Point Prevalent Abstinence (PPA) from vaping	7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) from all tobacco products will be assessed over the course of the study. Participants reporting no vaping in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent. Those reporting 7-day abstinence and not using nicotine replacement therapy will be mailed saliva cotinine test kit and saliva tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) test kit for biochemical verification of abstinence.	1 month
Point Prevalent Abstinence (PPA) from vaping	7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) from all tobacco products will be assessed over the course of the study. Participants reporting no vaping in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent. Those reporting 7-day abstinence and not using nicotine replacement therapy will be mailed saliva cotinine test kit and saliva tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) test kit for biochemical verification of abstinence.	3 months
Point Prevalent Abstinence (PPA) from vaping	7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) from all tobacco products will be assessed over the course of the study. Participants reporting no vaping in the past 7 days will be coded as abstinent. Those reporting 7-day abstinence and not using nicotine replacement therapy will be mailed saliva cotinine test kit and saliva tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) test kit for biochemical verification of abstinence.	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in the number of participants with reduction in vaping	Reduction in vaping is defined as a decline in vaping frequency by 50 percent (%) or more.	Up to 6 months
Change in the number of vape quit attempts	The number of quit attempts will be recorded at each assessment.	Up to 6 months
Number of participants with at least 1 quit attempt	The number of participants whom achieved at least one quit attempt during the full assessment time period will be reported.	Up to 6 months
Change in response on Stages of Change Questionnaire	The participants readiness to quit will be measured using the Stages of Change questionnaire - single item, which asks "Are you seriously thinking of quitting smoking?" Answers range from 'Yes, within the next 30 days', 'Yes, within the next 6 months', and 'No, not thinking of quitting'.	Up to 6 months
Change in the score on the Thoughts About Abstinence (TAA) Questionnaire	The adapted Thoughts About Abstinence Questionnaire (Hall et al., 1991) is a 3 item self-report questionnaire that measures: 1) desire to quit smoking, 2) expected success at quitting, 3) expected difficulty of quitting on 10-point Likert scales (e.g., 1=no desire to quit/lowest expectation/lowest level of difficulty to 10 = extreme desire to quit/highest expectation of success/highest expected difficulty)	Up to 6 months
Change in the scores on the Ways of Quitting questionnaire (WOQ)	The WOQ is a 28-item self-report instrument assessing adolescent smoking cessation strategies. For each WOQ item, respondents indicate whether they have used a given strategy (yes/no) and, if used, how helpful it was perceived to be on a five-point Likert-type scale (1= "Not helpful" to 5="Extremely helpful") with regard to several categories: Social support, Seeking assistance, Avoidance, Reduction, Substitution, Medication, Distraction, and Quit all at once (single item).	Up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Collaborators: HopeLab Foundation; Tobacco Related Disease Research Program; Rescue Agency
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Pamela Ling, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 18, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 18, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 11, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 11, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 13, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 21, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 18, 2024
• Last Verified: June 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Nicotine Dependence; Social Media
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Marijuana Abuse
• Other Study ID Numbers: T31IR1910 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Tobacco Related Diseases Research Program); 21633 (Other Identifier: University of California, San Francisco); NCI-2021-11423 (Registry Identifier: NCI Clinical Trials Reporting Program)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No