The Villainous Vape: Advancing Vaping Prevention Among Adolescents Through a Comic Book

July 27, 2026 updated by: Francisco Cartujano, MD, University of Rochester
This is a randomized controlled trial to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of The Villainous Vape, a vaping prevention comic book, among adolescents.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

90

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

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

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Know how to read and speak English and/or Spanish
  • Be at least 12 but no greater than 17 years old
  • Be willing to complete three study visits over Zoom or a phone call
  • Live in Orleans County, New York

Exclusion Criteria:

  • A household member participating in the study
  • Living outside of Orleans County, New York

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Health Impacts of E-cigarettes
Behavioral: Health Impacts of E-cigarettes
Health Impacts of E-cigarettes is a one-page educational flyer that outlines the impact of using electronic cigarettes and what is being done to mitigate youth vaping. The flyer reviews the dangers of nicotine delivery devices, lung damage, and how to stay safe in the event of social exposure to vaping. Health Impacts of E-cigarettes was developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Active Comparator: Mind Matters: The Body's Response to Nicotine, Tobacco, and Vaping
Behavioral: Mind Matters: The Body's Response to Nicotine, Tobacco, and Vaping
Mind Matters: The Body's Response to Nicotine, Tobacco, and Vaping is a five-page educational brochure that utilizes an illustrative approach to sharing basic information about nicotine and tobacco products. The brochure focuses on the physiological effect of these products, health effects, addiction, and key statistics. Mind Matters: The Body's Response to Nicotine, Tobacco, and Vaping was developed by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Experimental: The Villainous Vape
Behavioral: The Villainous Vape
The Villainous Vape is an eleven-page comic book that follows Daniel, a high school student who gets addicted to vaping and is hospitalized in the intensive care unit because he develops a lung disease. Support from friends and family helps Daniel make the decision to quit vaping. Throughout the comic, readers are exposed to various vaping-related facts and statistics.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage Of Participants Who Complete the Month 3 Assessment.
Time Frame: Month 3
The percentage will be calculated as the number of participants who complete the Month 3 assessment divided by the total number of enrolled participants.
Month 3
Percentage Of Participants Who Are Satisfied With Their Assigned Intervention at Month 3
Time Frame: Month 3
All participants will be asked the following question at Month 3: "How satisfied are you with the assigned intervention?" Responses will be collected using a 5-item Likert scale. The percentage of participants who are satisfied with their assigned intervention at Month 3 will be calculated as the number of participants who respond "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied," divided by the total number of participants in each group.
Month 3
Percentage Of Participants With Reduced Susceptibility To Future Vaping
Time Frame: Baseline to Month 3
Susceptibility to future vaping will be assessed using the susceptibility to e-cigarettes scale. The scale consists of three questions: 1) Have you ever been curious about using e-cigarettes? 2) Do you think you will use e-cigarettes in the next year? 3) If one of your best friends were to offer you an e-cigarette, would you use it? The questions use a 4-point Likert scale ranging from not at all curious (1) to very curious (4) for question one and definitely not (1) to definitely yes (4) for questions two and three. Participants who provide a response other than "not all curious" or "definitely not" will be considered "susceptible". The percentage will be calculated as the number of participants who demonstrate a change from "susceptible" at baseline to "not susceptible" at Month 3, divided by the total number of participants in each group.
Baseline to Month 3

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Rochester

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 (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 27, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 27, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00011905

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

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.

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