Dowrick L, Shackleton V, Nazir-Desforges S, Gettings R, Holding E, Rogerson M, Homer C, Williams C
Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK.
City of Doncaster Council, UK.
Perspect Public Health. 2025 Mar;145(2):113-119. doi: 10.1177/17579139251325156. Epub 2025 Apr 28.
This qualitative study aimed to investigate how young people understand vaping among their peers to directly inform practice within a Local Authority (LA) public health team in the North of England.
The study was undertaken using a co-creation model of qualitative research between LA practitioners and Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) embedded researchers. The study team collaboratively planned and collected data and analysed findings. Four focus groups were held with 17 young people aged between 13 and 23 years between May and August 2024. Participants were recruited from communities with reported high electronic cigarette (vape) use. Data analysis was informed by Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis approach.
Results suggest the importance of friendship groups, social media, mental wellbeing and family in the prevalence of youth vaping, alongside the accessibility and appeal of flavours, colours, and brands of vapes. Young people identified a lack of clear information and guidance about vapes with a mixed understanding of legal frameworks. They made valuable suggestions including specialist advisors within schools, increased regulation of the accessibility and promotion of vapes, and further information about health harms.
This study supports existing findings about the appeal of vapes to young people. The findings also add important knowledge about experiences of young people from a range of backgrounds where vaping has been identified as more prevalent locally and which mirrors health inequality data. Findings also highlight lack of awareness of legal frameworks and health harms of vaping products. Young people's suggestions on support to reduce vaping point towards several policy and practice interventions for use in LA settings, including providing accurate and clear information on vape harms, enhancing support services and reducing vape access and appeal.
这项定性研究旨在调查年轻人如何理解同龄人中的电子烟使用情况，以便直接为英格兰北部一个地方当局（LA）公共卫生团队的实践提供信息。
该研究采用了LA从业者与健康决定因素研究合作组织（HDRC）嵌入式研究人员之间的定性研究共同创造模型。研究团队共同规划、收集数据并分析结果。2024年5月至8月期间，与17名年龄在13至23岁之间的年轻人举行了四个焦点小组讨论。参与者从报告电子烟（vape）使用率高的社区招募。数据分析采用了布劳恩和克拉克的反思性主题分析方法。
结果表明，朋友圈子、社交媒体、心理健康和家庭在青少年电子烟流行中具有重要作用，同时电子烟的口味、颜色和品牌的可及性和吸引力也很重要。年轻人指出，关于电子烟缺乏明确的信息和指导，对法律框架的理解也各不相同。他们提出了宝贵的建议，包括在学校设立专业顾问、加强对电子烟可及性和推广活动的监管，以及提供更多关于健康危害的信息。
本研究支持了关于电子烟对年轻人有吸引力的现有研究结果。研究结果还增加了关于来自不同背景的年轻人经历的重要知识，在这些背景中，电子烟在当地被认为更为普遍，这反映了健康不平等数据。研究结果还突出了对电子烟产品法律框架和健康危害的认识不足。年轻人关于减少电子烟使用的支持建议指向了一些可在LA环境中使用的政策和实践干预措施，包括提供关于电子烟危害的准确清晰信息、加强支持服务以及减少电子烟的可及性和吸引力。
