Bteddini DS, LeLaurin JH, Chi X, Hall JM, Theis RP, Gurka MJ, Lee J-H, Mobley EM, Khalil GE, Polansky CJ, Kellner AM, Fahnlander AM, Kelder SH, Fiellin LE, Gutter MS, Shenkman EA, & Salloum RG. (2023). Mixed methods evaluation of vaping and tobacco product use prevention interventions among youth in the Florida 4-H program. Addictive Behaviors, 141, 107637–107637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107637
This pilot study tested the delivery feasibility and outcomes of two programs, CATCH My Breath and smokeSCREEN, among youth in rural settings in Florida. Eighty-two youth participants (aged 11-17) were recruited from rural youth clubs in Florida and randomly assigned to one of three arms: CATCH My Breath, smokeSCREEN, and control (receiving educational flyers). CATCH My Breath and smokescreen are prevention interventions that focus on promoting healthy behaviors and increasing awareness of vaping and tobacco use. CATCH My Breath consists of four interactive modules on vaping prevention delivered over Zoom group sessions weekly for four w eeks. smokeSCREEN is a smoking and vaping prevention video game and was delivered individually to adolescents. Participants from both intervention arms were also invited join group Zoom discussions weekly for four weeks to discuss the game. Out of the participants in the intervention arms, 83.7% attended the majority of group Zoom sessions. After the intervention, CATCH My Breath participants showed significant improvement in tobacco knowledge (post-pre=3.3, p<.01) and risk perceptions for other flavored tobacco products (post-pre=1.6, p<.05). Post intervention, smokeSCREEN participants demonstrated significantly improved tobacco knowledge (post-pre=5.0, p<.01), e-cigarettes knowledge (post-pre=2.8, p<.01) and risk perception towards e-cigarettes (post-pre=2.8, p<.05). In the control group, only risk perception to cigarettes significantly changed (post-pre=1.1, p<.01). Findings show positive feasibility and immediate positive impact of these digital intervention games augmented by virtual group sessions. Future work is needed to differentiate the impact of digital games from that of virtual group discussions. Investigations with larger samples and a longer follow-up period to evaluate longer-term impact are needed.