School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
J Am Coll Health. 2021 Nov-Dec;69(8):881-888. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2020.1711765. Epub 2020 Jan 29.
We examine colleges' current practices for communicating about e-cigarettes in terms of risk, campus policy, and cessation resources based on the American College Health Association (ACHA)'s and other tobacco-free campus policy guidelines. Websites of 581 universities prohibiting e-cigarette use on campus were analyzed. The relationship between the presence of e-cigarette information and campus characteristics was examined. There was a lack of e-cigarette risk information. Health and other risks of e-cigarette use were rarely or never mentioned. One fifth did not specify e-cigarettes to be prohibited. While many colleges were promoting the health benefit of a tobacco-free policy, the financial/professional benefits were rarely mentioned. Less than half mentioned on-campus tobacco cessation resources and less than one third listed off-campus resources. A few campus characteristics (e.g., the U.S. census region of campus, campus housing, funding type) were associated with presence of e-cigarette information on websites. Our findings suggest the need for colleges to make e-cigarette risk, policy, and cessation information more accessible via official college websites for students and other campus members. This may increase students' support for vape-free policy and assist successful adoption of complete tobacco-free policies on campus.
我们根据美国大学生健康协会（ACHA）和其他无烟校园政策指南，检查了各院校目前在电子烟风险、校园政策和戒烟资源方面的宣传做法。分析了 581 所禁止在校园内使用电子烟的大学网站。研究了电子烟信息的存在与校园特征之间的关系。电子烟风险信息的缺乏，健康和其他电子烟使用风险很少或从未提及。五分之一的网站并未明确规定禁止使用电子烟。虽然许多院校都在宣传无烟政策的健康益处，但很少提及财务/专业利益。不到一半的网站提到了校内戒烟资源，不到三分之一的网站列出了校外资源。一些校园特征（例如校园所在的美国人口普查区、校园住房、资金类型）与网站上是否存在电子烟信息有关。我们的研究结果表明，各院校需要通过官方院校网站为学生和其他校园成员提供更便捷的电子烟风险、政策和戒烟信息。这可能会增加学生对禁止电子烟政策的支持，并有助于在校园内成功采用全面的无烟政策。
