Developing a media literacy-based e-cigarette education program via medical record systems.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Adolescent Health
• Digital Health Interventions

Background:

• Adolescent vaping remains a significant public health concern.
• Media literacy is a key component in preventing youth uptake of vaping.
• Asthma may increase vulnerability to vaping initiation and its health consequences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of MediaSense, a media-literacy-based vaping prevention program, on adolescents.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in an oversample of adolescents with asthma.
• To examine the feasibility and acceptability of a digital intervention for adolescent vaping prevention.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, interventional pilot study utilizing electronic health record (EHR)-based recruitment.
• Self-administered, interactive e-learning program (MediaSense) with pre- and post-intervention REDCap surveys.
• Regression and factor analysis to assess changes in vaping media literacy, expectancy, harm perception, and intervention usability.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in vaping media literacy (148%) and perception of vaping harm (40.3% to 86.0%).
• Significant decrease in vaping expectancy (3.6 to 1.2).
• High usability ratings and significant improvements in vaping refusal and media literacy were observed, particularly in participants with asthma and those rating the e-modules highly.

Conclusions:

• The MediaSense program is acceptable and feasible for recruiting adolescents and preventing vaping through digital interventions.
• Enhanced media literacy empowers adolescents to critically analyze vaping marketing and resist peer pressure.
• Digital health strategies, like MediaSense, show promise in addressing adolescent vaping, with potential benefits for vulnerable groups such as those with asthma.