RecruitingACTRN12623000079640

Efficacy of a text-message based intervention in preventing adolescent e-cigarette use

A randomised controlled trial to examine the potential effect of a text-message based intervention on preventing adolescent e-cigarette use

Sponsor

University of Newcastle

Enrollment

400 participants

Start Date

Feb 27, 2023

Study Type

Interventional

Conditions

E-cigarette use

Summary

Text-message based programmes have proven to be an effective public health approach to improve adolescent health behaviours, including tobacco use, and so may have promise as an approach to influence adolescent e-cigarette behaviours. Given this potential, we aim to conduct a randomised controlled trial employing a 2x2 factorial design to examine the potential effect of a text-message program targeting parents and adolescents to prevent adolescent e-cigarette use. Parent-adolescent dyads will receive a series of text messages (1/week for 1 school term, then 1 booster message per term) designed to address the factors associated with e-cigarette use (e.g. to modify perceived social norms, or correct misconceptions of risk). Adolescent intentions to use e-cigarettes will be the primary outcome, assessed via a survey. It is hypothesised that adolescents who receive the text messages (or whose parents receive them) will report lower intentions to use e-cigarettes, than those in the control condition (who don't receive the text messages).

Eligibility

Sex: Both males and femalesMin Age: 12 YearssMax Age: 99 Yearss

Plain Language Summary

Simplified for easier understanding

E-cigarettes (vaping) have become increasingly popular among teenagers, despite growing evidence of harm to developing lungs and brains. Preventing young people from starting to vape is a public health priority, but effective, scalable prevention programs specifically targeting adolescents are limited. Text message programs have proven effective for other health behaviours in teenagers — could they work for e-cigarettes? This randomised trial is testing a text message program targeting both adolescents and their parents. Parent-adolescent pairs will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions: adolescent receives messages, parent receives messages, both receive messages, or neither (control). The messages are designed to address the specific social and psychological reasons young people start vaping — like correcting misconceptions about safety and challenging the perceived norm that everyone is doing it. Messages are sent weekly during one school term with booster messages each term after. You may be eligible if you are an adolescent aged 12–15 living in Australia who owns or has exclusive access to a mobile phone, with a parent or guardian who also consents to participate. Both parent and adolescent must have sufficient English to engage with the messages. There are no other exclusion criteria. This is an online study — there are no in-person visits required. The study is run by the University of Newcastle.

This summary was AI-generated to explain the trial in plain language. It is not medical advice. Always discuss eligibility with your doctor before enrolling in a clinical trial.

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Interventions

A randomised controlled trial employing a 2x2 factorial design will be conducted to test the effectiveness of a theory-based intervention to prevent e-cigarette use among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. Parent-adolescent dyads will be randomly allocated to one of the following four groups: Adolescent text-messages (group one): Adolescents from the parent-adolescent dyads allocated to Group one will receive a theory-based intervention to prevent adolescent e-cigarette use lasting up to two years. The intervention messages will be drawn from a library of text messages targeting adolescent e-cigarette use developed following extensive consultation with parents and adolescents via focus groups, semi-structured interviews and online surveys, in addition to consultation with researchers and experts from the field of e-cigarettes and tobacco. The messages target domains within the Theory of Triadic Influence (i.e. adolescent self-efficacy and behavioural control; social normative beliefs; and attitudes towards the behaviour), a theory frequently employed to guide the development of text-message based interventions to prevent and address adolescent tobacco use (Flay et al 2009). Messages will be sent to adolescents to target factors (i.e. barriers and enablers) associated with adolescent e-cigarette use, aligned to each of the Theory of Triadic Influence domains. Messages will be 320 characters or less (size of 2 standard text messages), and may include links to websites or youtube videos. Other messages will be plain text only. Adolescents will receive one message per week for 9-10 weeks across a school term. Following this, adolescents will receive one booster message per term, resulting in 12 messages total per year. Parents from the parent-adolescent dyads allocated to Group one will not receive the parent text-messages, however, they will receive an evidence-based e-cigarette factsheet developed by NSW Health to educate parents on the risks associated with child and adolescent e-cigarette use. Parent text-messages (group two): Parents from the parent-adolescent dyads allocated to Group two will receive a theory-based intervention to prevent adolescent e-cigarette use lasting up to two years. The intervention will consist of a library of text messages targeting parents developed following the extensive process outlined above in Group one. The messages target constructs within the Theory of Triadic Influence (i.e. adolescent self-efficacy and behavioural control; social normative beliefs; and attitudes towards the behaviour), a theory frequently employed to guide the development of text-message based interventions to prevent and address adolescent tobacco use (Flay et al 2009). Messages will be sent to parents to target factors associated with adolescent e-cigarette use that could be influenced by parents, such as adolescent accessibility and exposure to e-cigarettes, role of parents as a positive support mechanism, parent knowledge and perceptions of harms regarding adolescent e-cigarette use. Messages will be 320 characters or less (size of 2 standard text messages), and may include links to websites or youtube videos. Other messages will be plain text only. Parents will receive one message per week for 9-10 weeks across a school term. Following this, parents will receive one booster message per term, resulting in 12 messages total per year. Adolescents from the parent-adolescent dyads allocated to Group two will not receive the adolescent text-messages during the intervention period. Parent and adolescent text-messages (group three): Parent-adolescent dyads randomly allocated to Group three will receive both the parent and adolescent text-messages described above. Parents and adolescents will receive the text-messages concurrently. Parents will also receive the e-cigarette factsheet. Read receipts will be automatically captured via the text message program to monitor adherence. Both adolescents and parents will be asked to report on their receipt and reading of text messages at 6 month followup. We will also collect web analytics to determine how frequently a link in any text message is clicked. Adherence to reading the factsheet will not be monitored.