For teens who want to stop vaping nicotine, an interactive text message program was found to be effective at helping them quit. The anonymous program begins with this message: “Ready to quit? Text the date you want to quit for daily tips a few weeks before and after your quit date.”
Among adolescents with a history of vaping, those who participated in a first-of-its-kind text message program called This is Quitting were 35% more likely to report that they had quit vaping after seven months compared with adolescents who did not participate in the program, according to a study published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA. This is Quitting was developed by Truth Initiative, a nonprofit focused on ending tobacco use, as a free and anonymous text messaging program to help young people quit vaping. Before this study — which Truth Initiative funded — there hasn’t been any data available on how to help teens quit vaping, according to the researchers.
“This is the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of any quit vaping program for adolescents. It’s also a program that has been used by more than 780,000 young people nationwide since Truth Initiative launched it in 2019,” Dr. Amanda Graham, chief health officer at Truth Initiative and principal investigator of the study, said in an email.
“This study is the first to show the effectiveness of a digital intervention in helping young people break free from e-cigarettes,” she said. “The text message intervention helped them build confidence to overcome nicotine addiction and learn powerful behavior change skills that they can take with them for life.”
E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among adolescents.
The 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released in November by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration, found that about 2.1 million middle and high school students were e-cigarette users.
How the program works
The new study included more than 1,500 adolescents in the United States, ages 13 to 17, who reported vaping in the previous 30 days, with many of them — about 76% — reporting that they vape within 30 minutes of waking up, a signal of nicotine dependence.
Most of the study participants, about 87%, reported that they had tried to quit in the previous year, and about 94% reported feeling somewhat or very addicted to vaping.
The trial participants were recruited via ads on social media, including Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. From October 2021 to October 2023, about half of the participants were randomly assigned to the This is Quitting text message program.
The text message program included messages designed to build confidence and skills for quitting, including cognitive and behavioral coping strategies, mindfulness training, breathing training, self-care advice, social support, information about cessation medication and how to reach the Crisis Text Line.
Some of the text messages in the program include: “Drinking something cold – water, sports drink, iced tea, milk – can help when a craving pops up. You can always reply COPE.” or “You GOT this. You may want to avoid people, places, or things that make you want to use your vape today (if that’s possible). Text COPE or STRESS if you need.” The messages also include tips from other young people who are also quitting.