Adapting an Intervention for Vaping in Young Veterans

January 6, 2026 updated by: Veterans Medical Research Foundation

Nicotine Cessation: Adapting a Counseling Program for Emerging Adults

The objective of this proposal is to adapt an evidence-based combustible tobacco counseling intervention following an evidence-based process to include e-cigarette use and update its components for emerging adults (EA).

  1. Examine factors related to e-cigarette use, barriers to cessation, and facilitators of use of cessation services among an EA population.
  2. Beta-test an initial version of the intervention, delivered via video telehealth and telephone, to examine usability and acceptability.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Use of electronic nicotine products (ENDS) has increased dramatically especially among young adults (EA- aged 18-30) and has been found to lead to immediate harmful health effects and increased addiction to combustible cigarette use. To date no research-tested interventions have been developed for helping people stop use of electronic nicotine products. Emerging adulthood is a developmental period that can lead to adoption of health risk behaviors.

This proposal aims to address nicotine addiction by adapting an evidence-based counseling cessation intervention developed by the American Cancer Society (ACS) for a general population of combustible tobacco smokers, but found to be effective in EA. We will test two methods of providing counseling to participants: video telehealth or telephone. Primary outcome: Compared to self-help guide only, at 3 month follow-up, we hypothesize that participants in either counseling arm will have higher rates as compared to self-help only control of 7-day abstinence from using any nicotine product.

This study fills a critical gap in ENDS research and will provide a model for further research into all-nicotine cessation in this vulnerable population.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Diego, California, United States, 92161
        • Recruiting
        • Veterans Medical Research Foundation
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Neal M Doran, PhD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • daily e-cigarette user for at least the past 6 months
  • 18-30 years old
  • willing to enroll in a program to quit nicotine use within 30 days
  • owns smartphone or computer/tablet with camera and internet connectivity
  • English speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

  • ICD-10 diagnosis of dementia
  • current use of combustible tobacco products at least weekly

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: telephone
Participants assigned to this group will receive the adapted intervention by telephone.
Behavioral: adapted vaping cessation intervention
Behavioral intervention for vaping cessation
Experimental: Video
Participants assigned to this group will receive the adapted intervention by video telehealth.
Behavioral: adapted vaping cessation intervention
Behavioral intervention for vaping cessation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
e-cigarette use frequency
Time Frame: end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter
number of days using e-cigarettes in the past 7 days at the time of assessment
end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter
e-cigarette use quantity
Time Frame: end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter
number of e-cigarette uses per day
end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8)
Time Frame: end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter
Participant satisfaction ratings; higher scores indicate greater satisfaction with the intervention
end of treatment (8 weeks post-baseline) and 30 days thereafter

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Veterans Medical Research Foundation

Collaborators

University of California

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Neal M Doran, PhD, Veterans Medical Research Foundation

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 13, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 8, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • VeteransMRF
  • T31P1525 (Other Grant/Funding Number: University of California)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Sample size is sufficiently small that sharing could threaten confidentiality.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on E Cigarette Use

Clinical Trials on adapted vaping cessation intervention

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Argentina

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe