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

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Addiction Medicine

Background:

• Most e-cigarette users express a desire to quit.
• There is a significant lack of evidence-based interventions for e-cigarette cessation.
• Understanding self-quit attempts is crucial in the absence of formal support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how and why individuals attempt to quit e-cigarette use independently.
• To identify barriers and facilitators encountered during self-initiated cessation attempts.
• To gather insights for developing future e-cigarette cessation interventions.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of participants via Amazon Mechanical Turk.
• Data collection on demographics, tobacco use, e-cigarette characteristics, and cessation experiences.
• Content analysis of open-ended questions regarding quitting advice and wished-for resources.

Main Results:

• A high percentage (89.0%) used nicotine e-cigarettes, with many using them daily (77.7%).
• Primary motivation for quitting was health concerns (42.2%), with "cold turkey" being a common method (56.7%).
• Cravings (41.0%) and stress (53.1%) were significant barriers; distractions/hobbies and nicotine reduction were common self-help strategies.

Conclusions:

• E-cigarette users attempting to quit independently face challenges like cravings and stress.
• Self-reported strategies such as distractions and gradual nicotine reduction offer insights for intervention development.
• Further research is needed to build effective, evidence-based e-cigarette cessation programs.