Dramatic Increase in Youth E-cigarettes Requires Strong Prevention Response

Dramatic Increase in Youth E-cigarettes Requires Strong Prevention Response

An FDA News Release on November 15, 2018 reported a dramatic increase of more than 1.5 million additional middle and high school students using e-cigarettes since last year. 

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said, “These new data show that America faces an epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, which threatens to engulf a new generation in nicotine addiction.”  

The number of US high school students reporting using e-cigarettes increased by nearly 80% in the past year. 

CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said, “E-cigarette use is unsafe among youth, and it’s critical that we implement proven strategies to protect our Nation’s youth from this preventable health risk.” 

A new evidence-informed tool created by Prevention Plus Wellness, LLC to address this quickly developing youth epidemic is the Vaping Prevention Plus Wellness program.  

Vaping Prevention Plus Wellness was modeled after the evidence-based SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness program which has demonstrated effects on both preventing substance use and promoting healthy habits among participating youth. 

The new Vaping Prevention Plus Wellness program is an innovative screening and brief intervention that can be provided to youth individually or in groups using a scripted protocol and PowerPoint slides. 

It includes screening youth for their current health habits, including e-cigarette use and health-enhancing habits, providing positive feedback cueing desired future images of youth engaged in healthy behaviors, and developing youth self-regulation skills to set and monitor goals to both avoid e-cigarettes and increase healthy substance-use protective lifestyles. 

Vaping Prevention Plus Wellness is based on a marketing-related theory titled the Behavior-Image Model, which has been used to create a number of evidence-based and evidence-informed programs that integrate substance use prevention with wellness promotion for youth and young adults across the country. 

Learn more about the Vaping Prevention Plus Wellness program: https://preventionpluswellness.com/products/vaping-prevention-plus-wellness-program-1?variant=15330473312358 

Read the complete FDA report: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm625917.htm 

For more information, contact Chudley Werch, PhD, President at Prevention Plus Wellness, LLC, (904) 472-5022, cwerch@preventionpluswellness.com 

Please like and share this important news with others in your region and state.  Thank you!

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.