Vaping Prevention and Vaping in Youth (Vapechat)

NCT06003439 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: H-43102
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 119
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Many youth are addicted to nicotine due to increased nicotine vaping (e.g., e-cigarettes). Unfortunately, there are no effective interventions to help teens quit vaping. In addition, existing vaping prevention programs have limited effectiveness because teens have reported that existing available interventions are out of touch with teen's culture and are not appealing to the intended audience. Therefore, to be effective, a vaping intervention must be acceptable, appealing, and engaging to teens, and most importantly, it should be designed to be channeled into an existing infrastructure such as the school setting. The investigators' research group has designed a vaping prevention and cessation intervention that is implemented as a VR game for high school teens. The overall objective of this research is to assess the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of the VR experience among high school students in two high schools in Boston.

Conditions

Vaping; Smoking Cessation

Keywords

Virtual reality (VR); High School Students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (8)

• Engagement with the VR program

  Experimental condition arm. Playing time in minutes objectively measured by the program software; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Satisfaction with the VR game

  Experimental condition arm. Self-report star rating of the VR game (1 to 5 stars); higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Awareness of vaping

  Experimental condition arm. Self-report awareness adapted from the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Score range 1 - 5; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Knowledge of vaping

  Experimental condition arm Self-report knowledge adapted from the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Score range 1 - 5; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Attitudes towards vaping

  Experimental condition arm. Self-report attitudes towards vaping adapted from the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Score range 1 - 5; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Intention to change

  Experimental condition arm. Self-report intention to change vaping behaviors adapted from the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Score range 1 - 5; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Help seeking

  Experimental condition arm. Self-report help seeking for vaping behaviors adapted from the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Score range 1 - 5; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

• Gameplay experience and satisfaction

  Experimental condition arm. Scores on a scale assessing the gameplay experience. Score range 1 - 4; higher values mean a better outcome

  5 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (16)

• Quit vaping attempts

  5 weeks

• Past 30-days vaping frequency

  5 weeks

• Past 7-days vaping frequency

  5 weeks

• Frequency of current vaping

  5 weeks

• Motivation to quit (or avoid) vaping within the next 30-days

  5 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Virtual Reality Program

EXPERIMENTAL

Students in classrooms randomized to this group will receive the Virtual Reality vaping cessation and prevention program.

Behavioral: Virtual Reality Program; Behavioral: VR Program

Assessment Only

NO INTERVENTION

Students in classrooms randomized to this group will not receive the VR intervention but will complete questionnaire assessment only.

Interventions

Virtual Reality Program BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral: Virtual Reality Program The VR Program will be pre-installed on Meta Quest 2 headsets, which will be donned by students as a class to experience the intervention for approximately the length of one school class period (approximately 30-40 minutes). Each participant will experience the program once a week for 3 weeks. Participants who missed a week will complete the program by the 4th or 5th week.

Also known as: VR Program

Virtual Reality Program

VR Program BEHAVIORAL

VR program participants will be able to download a mobile app that complements and reinforces the school-based VR session.

Virtual Reality Program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 19 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Students enrolled at Everett and Quincy High Schools (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors).
• Students in Health class
• Child assents

You may not qualify if:

• Teacher indicates that participation is not appropriate for the student (e.g., severe mental illness; visual or auditory disability; medical issue)
• Parent(s)/guardian(s) opt student out of the study.
• Prone to motion sickness or seizures.
• Visual impairments that would preclude playing VR or otherwise unable to use VR device.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Boston University: lead
• American Heart Association: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine

Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Borrelli B, Weinstein D, Endrighi R, Ling N, Koval K, Quintiliani LM, Konieczny K. Virtual Reality for the Prevention and Cessation of Nicotine Vaping in Youths: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2025 May 15;14:e71961. doi: 10.2196/71961.

  PMID: 40278000 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Vaping; Smoking Cessation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Smoking; Behavior; Health Behavior

Study Officials

• Belinda Borrelli, PhD

  Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Center for Behavioral Science Research

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Health classes in each high school will be randomly assigned using a 1:3 threshold probability using a random digit generator.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 15, 2023
• First Posted: August 22, 2023
• Study Start: April 4, 2024
• Primary Completion: June 7, 2024
• Study Completion: June 7, 2024
• Last Updated: June 7, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)