E-Cigarette Quit Attempts and Experiences in a Convenience Sample of Adult Users

Meagan A. Bluestein, Geronimo Bejarano, Alayna P. Tackett, Jaimie C. Duano, Shelby Grace Rawls, Elizabeth A. Vandewater, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia and Emily T. Hébert ()
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Meagan A. Bluestein: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin Campus, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Austin, TX 78701, USA
Geronimo Bejarano: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin Campus, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Austin, TX 78701, USA
Alayna P. Tackett: Center for Tobacco Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Jaimie C. Duano: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin Campus, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Austin, TX 78701, USA
Shelby Grace Rawls: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin Campus, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Austin, TX 78701, USA
Elizabeth A. Vandewater: Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78701, USA
Jasjit S. Ahluwalia: Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI 02912, USA
Emily T. Hébert: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin Campus, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Austin, TX 78701, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Most e-cigarette users report planning to quit, but there is a paucity of evidence-based interventions for e-cigarette cessation. In the absence of interventions for e-cigarette cessation, we sought to understand how and why e-cigarette users attempt to quit on their own. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourcing platform. Those who reported they had ever used e-cigarettes regularly and had attempted to quit e-cigarette use were eligible for participation. Measures included demographic characteristics, other tobacco product use, e-cigarette device characteristics, barriers to quitting e-cigarettes, and facilitators to quitting e-cigarettes. A content analysis was conducted on twotwo open-ended questions that asked about advice respondents had for others trying to quit vaping and resources they wished they had during their quit attempt. Descriptive analyses were performed (means/standard errors; frequencies/proportions). A total of 89.0% reported using an e-cigarette with nicotine, 20.2% reported a nicotine concentration of 4–6 mg/mL%, 32.8% reported using multiple flavors, and 77.7% reported using their e-cigarette every day or some days. The primary reason reported for wanting to quit e-cigarettes was health concerns (42.2%), and 56.7% reported trying to quit “cold turkey”. During quit attempts, 41.0% reported intense cravings and 53.1% reported stress as a trigger. From the content analysis, the most commonly cited suggestion for those wanting to quit e-cigarettes was distractions/hobbies (19.9%), followed by reducing/tapering down nicotine (16.9%). Descriptive information on demographics, e-cigarette use, device characteristics, barriers, facilitators, and quit methods provides a first step in identifying factors that contribute to successful interventions designed for e-cigarette cessation.

Keywords: vaping; cessation; interventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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