A Comprehensive Approach to Decreasing E-cigarette Use Among Adolescents
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Authors
Swann, Jahnis
Issue Date
2025-05
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Description/Abstract
Background: E-cigarettes have transformed into a public health epidemic, especially within the adolescent population. Effective interventions are needed to educate adolescents about the risks of vaping and strengthen their refusal skills.
Purpose: The primary objective of the quality improvement (QI) project was to assess the impact of the Childhood Approach to Child Health (CATCH) My Breath program on adolescents’ knowledge, refusal abilities, and perceptions of e-cigarettes using pre- and post-surveys to evaluate changes.
Method: This QI project implemented the CATCH My Breath program, in a private school setting to assess its impact on adolescent vaping prevention. Pre- and post- surveys measured changes in students’ knowledge, refusal skills, and attitudes analyzed using a two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Intervention: A single instructor implemented the CATCH My Breath program during freshman seminar classes, aiming to enhance students’ knowledge, refusal skills, and attitudes toward vaping.
Results: There were no statistically significant differences in knowledge (p=.564) or refusal skills (p=.751) after the program, but there was a significant difference in attitudes about vaping (p= .009) as students had a less negative attitude about vaping after the intervention.
Conclusion: This project highlights the need for enhanced vaping prevention strategies, emphasizing interactive and sustained educational approaches to effectively influence adolescents’ knowledge, refusal skills, and attitudes toward e-cigarettes.