Interactive Text Messaging Program May Help Young Adults Stop Vaping

Young adults who used an interactive text messaging program that encouraged them to stop vaping were up to 40% more likely to quit than their peers who did not participate in the program, a new study finds.

The young adults, ages 18 to 24, used the This is Quitting program, an automated, tailored, interactive text messaging-based program designed for young adults. The study found 24.1% of those who participated in the program were no longer vaping seven months later, compared with 18.6% of those who did not participate, UPI reports.

The program, developed with support from the anti-tobacco advocacy group Truth Initiative, incorporates messages from other young people who have attempted to or successfully quit e-cigarettes.

According to Truth Initiative, This is Quitting has enrolled over 315,000 young people to date. Young people can text “DITCHVAPE” to 88709 to enroll.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, 3.6 million U.S. middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, including 4.7% of middle school students and 19.6% of high school students.