Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2024

Document Type

Project (696 or 796 registration)

Degree Name

Master of Science in Counseling

Department

Graduate Studies

Committee Chair

Taryn Akgul

Keywords

vaping, schools, prevention

Abstract

Since 2007, when vapes hit the United States tobacco market, adolescents have increasingly been a targeted population. Recently, anywhere from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 high school students have reported using e-cigarettes (EC) or vapes (Rohde, Vereen, and Noar, 2021). With high levels of nicotine in vaping products such as JUUL, reaching the equivalent of 20 traditional combustible cigarettes (TCC) per pod and delivering nicotine at a 1.3 to 1.7 times faster rate than TCC, the concern and fear of adolescent nicotine addiction has reached epidemic levels (Kelder et al, 2020). Schools are ideal locations for EC and vape prevention and cessation as students not only are highly exposed to products at school, but they also gain a lot of their perceptions, knowledge, and beliefs on vaping from their peers at school (Garder et al, 2023). Programs like CATCH My Breath are specifically designed for classroom education on vaping with a targeted audience of fifth grade and up, while concepts like alternatives-to-suspension focus on getting student help for their addiction rather than discipline. Together, teachers, administration, school counselors, and other school staff can help address the high concerns of adolescents vaping, and ideally make a difference in the alarming statistics.

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