Asdigian Nancy L, Riggs Nathanial R, Valverde Patricia A, Crane Lori A
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Health Promot Pract. 2023 Sep;24(5):956-962. doi: 10.1177/15248399221100793. Epub 2022 Jun 9.
Effective prevention interventions are needed to stem the rising tide of nicotine vaping among adolescents. We conducted a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent comparison group pilot study of the effectiveness of the "Youth Engaged Strategies for Changing Adolescent Norms" (YES-CAN!) program for reducing risks for youth nicotine vaping. YES-CAN! is an innovative peer-led program that supports older adolescents in developing and delivering short narrative prevention videos and related prevention education to younger adolescents. High-school and middle-school program participants and non-program comparison group students completed pre and post surveys assessing vaping susceptibility, behavioral intentions, resistance, knowledge, attitudes, perceived harm, and normative beliefs. Vaping knowledge and the perceived number of friends and classmates who vape showed significantly greater pre- to post-program increases among high-school participants compared to non-participants, and positive vaping attitudes demonstrated significantly greater decreases. Among middle-school students, vaping knowledge increased significantly more among program participants compared to non-participants. The findings from this study indicate that the YES-CAN! program holds promise for reducing risks of nicotine vaping among adolescents. This contributes to a growing body of evidence regarding the utility of peer-led approaches to adolescent health promotion. Further evaluation of the YES-CAN! program in a large-scale randomized control trial is warranted to determine its effectiveness in curbing the escalation of youth nicotine vaping that has characterized the past decade. Future studies should monitor program effect on perceptions of vaping prevalence to ensure participation and/or exposure does not inadvertently promote vaping by increasing perceptions that others vape.
需要有效的预防干预措施来阻止青少年中尼古丁电子烟使用的上升趋势。我们进行了一项准实验性、非等效对照组的试点研究，以评估“青少年参与改变青少年规范策略”（YES-CAN！）计划在降低青少年尼古丁电子烟使用风险方面的有效性。YES-CAN！是一个由同龄人主导的创新计划，支持年龄较大的青少年制作并向年龄较小的青少年提供简短的叙事性预防视频及相关预防教育。高中和初中项目参与者以及非项目对照组学生完成了前后调查，评估电子烟易感性、行为意图、抵抗力、知识、态度、感知危害和规范信念。与非参与者相比，高中参与者在项目前后电子烟知识以及对吸烟雾朋友和同学数量的感知增加更为显著，且积极的电子烟态度下降更为显著。在初中生中，与非参与者相比，项目参与者的电子烟知识增加更为显著。本研究结果表明，YES-CAN！计划有望降低青少年尼古丁电子烟使用风险。这为关于同龄人主导的青少年健康促进方法的效用的越来越多的证据做出了贡献。有必要在大规模随机对照试验中对YES-CAN！计划进行进一步评估，以确定其在遏制过去十年中青少年尼古丁电子烟使用升级方面的有效性。未来的研究应监测该计划对电子烟流行率认知的影响，以确保参与和/或接触不会因增加他人使用电子烟的认知而无意中促进电子烟使用。
