A Community-Based Pilot Prevention Program to Prevent Electronic Cigarette Use Among Teens

With over 3.6 million teens using tobacco, we have lost the opportunity to create the first tobacco-free generation. This pilot project presented the CATCH My Breath (CMB) E-Cigarette and JUUL prevention program to local teens experiencing a global pandemic. The program was condensed from a 4-week multi-session offering into a one-day seminar with an intense focus on student safety and engagement. While contextual factors significantly impacted the project implementation, the content remained largely the same. This accounted for the achievement of many of the project’s desired outcomes. Participants increased their baseline knowledge of the effects and dangers of e-cigarette use with 87% of respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing with, “I learned a lot about e-cigarettes from the CATCH My Breath program.” Additionally, 87% agreed or strongly agreed with, “The CATCH My Breath program would be effective in getting kids not to vape.” Though the one-day offering was sub-optimal, a program shorter than the recommended 4-weeks could prove to be very successful