Efficacy of a Brief E-Cigarette Screening and Intervention for College Students: A Pilot Study

The prevalence of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), use among adolescents and young adults is rapidly increasing, and as of 2014, e-cigarettes have become the most used tobacco product among youth, surpassing traditional combustible cigarettes. Health risks such as lung injury, increased heart rate, and raised blood pressure have been associated with e-cigarette use. College students who use e-cigarettes are likely to focus more on the perceived benefits of e-cigarettes than the perceived risks. Brief, targeted tobacco cessation interventions, even those as brief as 10 minutes, have been effective for smoking cessation. However, there are no existing empirically supported interventions for e-cigarette cessation, and the development of interventions are necessary to address the current wave of e-cigarette use. Existing brief interventions that are effective for the cessation of other substances are based on the principles of motivational interviewing (MI), suggesting that a brief intervention for e-cigarette cessation should be tailored to a young adult population and their specific beliefs regarding the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes. The present study evaluated the efficacy of a brief, MI-based e-cigarette cessation intervention delivered through video teleconferencing for college student ENDS users. Participants were 55 ENDS users randomly assigned to a brief, MI-based cessation intervention (n = 27) and a control condition (n = 28). Post-intervention, there was a within-subjects change across time for those receiving the brief intervention, whereby these participants reported a significant increase in motivation for e-cigarette cessation, increased negative consequences related to vaping, increased perceived risks, and fewer perceived benefits of ENDS use. The present study adds to the existing literature by demonstrating the efficacy of a brief, MI-based intervention for e-cigarette cessation delivered via teleconferencing