Enhancing School-Based Vaping Prevention Education: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Augment Adolescent Knowledge and Awareness
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Authors
Strickland, Betty
Issue Date
2025-05
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Description/Abstract
Background: Adolescent vaping is a growing health concern driven by misconceptions, youth-targeted marketing, and discreet vape designs. E-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals that can have detrimental effects on adolescent brain development.
Purpose: This quality improvement project aimed to implement a school-based vaping prevention curriculum for fifth- and sixth-grade students and evaluate its impact on students’ knowledge and intentions related to vaping.
Methods: A nonrandomized controlled sample of approximately 60 fifth- and sixth-grade students completed a pre- and post-survey assessing their knowledge and attitudes toward vaping before participating in the six-lesson You and Me, Together Vape-Free curriculum. Descriptive statistics and a two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test analyzed differences between pre- and post-survey results.
Results: Improvements were observed in students’ knowledge and perceptions regarding vaping, including increased awareness of the harm and risk of addiction from occasional (Q1; p= .018, Q4; p= .004) and daily (Q2; p= .003, Q5; p= .006) use. Students’ awareness of targeted marketing strategies showed improvements in Q8–Q11 (p < .05). Post-intervention, 76.27% aimed to “stay vape-free”, 20.34% to “quit”, and 3.39% to “reduce use”.
Conclusion: The curriculum effectively increased adolescent knowledge of e-cigarette risks and marketing tactics. Supported by strong educator engagement and minimal resource use, the curriculum proved sustainable. Despite limited changes in behavioral intentions, the findings highlight the value of early, school-based education in shaping healthier attitudes toward vaping.