A mixed-methods analysis of a do-it-yourself e-cigarette community on Reddit

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Prevalence of flavored e-cigarette use among US youth.
• FDA's federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes effective January 2, 2020.
• Potential for DIY e-cigarette methods to circumvent regulations.

Purpose of the Study:

• Describe discourse in a DIY e-cigarette subreddit.
• Examine shifts in community discussions post-FDA flavor ban.
• Understand unintended policy effects on online communities.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods study of posts from r/DIY_eJuice (January 2019-January 2021).
• Extracted 5110 posts; randomly selected 800 for coding (400 pre-ban, 400 post-ban).
• Coded 12 thematic categories; used chi-squared tests for period comparisons.

Main Results:

• DIY mixing (76%) and flavors (49%) remained frequent topics.
• Policy discussions significantly increased post-ban (3.5% to 8.3%, p=0.004).
• Safety discussions remained infrequent; experienced user discussions increased.

Conclusions:

• Flavor ban influenced discourse, increasing policy and DIY technique conversations.
• Discussions on safety were not significantly affected by the ban.
• Continued surveillance of DIY communities is vital for public health strategies.