Grant: Project Grant

Vapes (also called e-cigarettes) have increased in popularity among youth in Canada and the United States. Youth who try vaping are at risk of becoming addicted and continuing to vape. To help combat the rise in vaping, there is an urgent need to identify effective ways to prevent youth from experimenting with vaping. Because of the novelty of vapes, there are few school-based programs targeting vaping. This study will investigate whether a vaping prevention curriculum called 'CATCH My Breath' (CMB) prevents high school students from starting to vape. We will recruit 28 schools in Ontario into the intervention group, and students at these schools will be presented with the CMB curriculum by Public Health Unit staff. CMB is an evidence-based program that includes two 70-minute lessons that provide students with information about social norms related to vaping, health risks of vaping, media literacy, and in-class activities to practice refusal skills. Students will complete an online survey before being exposed to the curriculum, 3-months later, and 12-months later. The vaping behaviours of these students will be compared to students in the COMPASS study who are not given the curriculum. The COMPASS study is an ongoing cohort study of youth health behaviours, including vaping. Evidence from this project will identify whether students exposed to CMB are less likely to start and continue vaping. If effective, CMB can be easily delivered in high schools across Canada in order to reduce the number of students who vape.