Are text-message based programs targeting adolescents and their parents an acceptable approach to preventing adolescent e-cigarette use?

Abstract

ABSTRACTAdolescent e-cigarette use (also known as vaping), globally and within Australia, has steadily increased in recent years, with e-cigarettes now the most heavily used nicotine-containing products amongst adolescents. In response to the rise in prevalence, governments have introduced legislation to curb the supply of e-cigarettes to adolescents. To supplement these legislation measures, leading (inter)national public health agencies have called for the development of education and communication programs aimed at reducing adolescent e-cigarette uptake. Text-message programs for adolescents represent a potentially potent approach to achieve this. In this study, we assessed the acceptability of text-messages sent to adolescents and their parents to target factors associated with e-cigarette use. Text-messages were found to be acceptable to both adolescents and their parents however the effectiveness of the program on adolescent e-cigarette use still needs to be established prior to broader scale-up and investment.