Addictive Behaviors

Tobacco use has changed greatly, with e-cigarettes having replaced cigarettes as the most widely used tobacco product in the US and globally, especially among youth. US data show a 78% increase in high school students’ and a 48% increase in middle school students’ past 30-day use of e-cigarettes from 2017-2018. In 2019, over 27% of high school students used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, with an alarming number of youth addicted to nicotine and at risk of harmful health effects. Currently, there are few evidence-based e-cigarette prevention or cessation resources and no FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapies available for use by youth, schools, or healthcare providers to reduce adolescent and young adult e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction. Parents, youth, health educators, and healthcare providers are seeking resources to help prevent, reduce, or stop youth use of e-cigarettes. In this special issue, we are seeking articles that focus on the following topics: description of the development, content and implementation of novel evidence-based e-cigarette prevention and cessation programs targeting youth populations (including quitlines, school-based education, and other programs); pilot feasibility and acceptability studies; evaluation of e-cigarette prevention programs, including those describing usage and reach, randomized controlled trials, pre-post studies and qualitative assessments. Given the dearth of e-cigarette prevention and cessation programs, while preference will be given to scientifically robust program evaluations, in this special issue we are keen to include promising programs that haven’t yet been formally evaluated. Priority will be given to full-length articles (<3500 words) and short communications (<2000 words). Case studies (<2500 words), systematic reviews (<4000 words) and mini-reviews (<2500 words) will also be considered, provided they offer new insights or perspectives on the topic.