Here’s an effective new way to support young people who vape
Our research with children and young people in Warwickshire and Coventry revealed their attitudes and behaviours around nicotine. What we learned has opened up new ways forward for designing services around young people’s needs.
Client
Warwickshire County Council’s Stop Smoking Services.
The brief
Conduct research into the ways young people vape or use nicotine and make recommendations for future service design based on behavioural insights.
Key insight
Vaping levels are high, but young people don’t relate to the current Stop Smoking Services, which are designed for adults and focused on smoking. So a fresh new approach is needed that moves away from talking about long-term health harms and instead focuses on young people’s need for self-efficacy and personal discovery.
Social Engine conducted research with children and young people aged 11-18, together with professionals who work with them, and parents and carers. Through a series of co-production workshops with mixed professional groups we helped to develop clear recommendations for future interventions and approaches.
We learned that vaping levels are high at 18% and vapes are easy to get. Many of them want to quit and a third have tried at least once – but there is no bespoke support available.
And while vapes are not seen as risk-free, short term effects are not a major concern, suggesting that young people need more immediate and salient drivers if they are to successfully quit.
Significantly, young people are also likely to be secretive about their use of nicotine, for fear of a negative reaction; they are more likely to speak to friends.
Motivations for nicotine use
We found two distinct reasons that young people use nicotine:
Socialising and enjoyment – including things like curiosity, peer influence, brand appeal and perceived pleasure.
Coping and self-medicating – particularly around anxiety and stress. Neuodivergent teens often see vaping as a self-soothing mechanism.d
A lack of support
Fully one third of professionals report a lack of confidence in their ability to help a young person quite, as their knowledge and training are limited. Their lack of confidence, coupled with young people’s tendency to secrecy, means that support is neither proactively offered nor sought.
Contextual barriers
Several contextual barriers make it even more challenging to create interventions for young people around nicotine:
A misconception that vaping is safe, partly fuelled by NRT and current info sources, like Frank.
Vaping is a new area without tried and tested intervention pathways
Big Tobacco has a head start, and a powerful profit mechanism that drives innovation.
Young people personas
To help model intervention design, we developed personas to capture the different motivations and challenges young people experience at distinct ages and Key Stages.
Vaping levels are high.
18%
Want to quit but there
is no support available.
1/3
Nicotine users are more anxious compared to those who don’t use it at 12%.
21%
Intervention recommendations
Our recommendations for future services included a series of ways to engage children and young people at each age and stage. These would be centred on a young people’s hub that would enable young people to explore the facts about nicotine addiction, provide age appropriate branding, messages and materials, as well as connecting young people who need it with appropriate resources. So it would serve as a resource for young people, parents and professionals alike.
‘Social Engine delivered high quality evidence-led recommendations that helped break down challenging topics into achievable next steps, which were co-produced from our workshops. These recommendations were creative and innovative, helping us think through approaches we hadn’t considered. They were expert in presenting in a plain English, engaging, and motivating way, and went above and beyond to help us understand and combat challenges.’
Michael Maddocks, Public Health Service Manager - Smokefree Generation, Warwickshire County Council
