The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) has launched a new group vaping cessation intervention for teens and young adults. Quit the Hit is a free, web-based program designed to reduce youth e-cigarette use, combat the impact of nicotine addiction and help Oklahoma kids live longer, healthier lives and is currently enrolling participants.
The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) has launched a new group vaping cessation intervention for teens and young adults. Quit the Hit is a free, web-based program designed to reduce youth e-cigarette use, combat the impact of nicotine addiction and help Oklahoma kids live longer, healthier lives and is currently enrolling participants.
E-cigarettes, or vapes, are the most popular tobacco product among middle and high school students in Oklahoma and across the U.S. In Oklahoma, 27.8% high school students reported using electronic vapor products.
“Early intervention is key, as vaping has put a new generation at risk for a lifetime of addiction to nicotine,” said Julie Bisbee, executive director of TSET. “Internal tobacco industry documents once referred to youth as ‘replacement smokers.’ With the rise of teen vaping we see the same playbook with a new product. If we help them quit now, we will them a lifetime of costs to their health, wellbeing and finances.”
Quit the Hit meets youth where they are. It is an evidence-based, moderator-led cessation education program conducted on social media platform Instagram. Quit the Hit provides teens and young adults with five weeks of free, online quit support in groups of 10-15 participants.
Quit the Hit offers peer-to-peer support, daily educational content, coping strategies, quit tools, group challenges and more. Pre-and post-program surveys will measure success on a variety of outcomes including past 30-day vape use, intent to vape, intent to quit and confidence in quitting.
A June 2021 survey of more than 200 teens across Oklahoma found 75% of those reported using vapes in the past 30 days said they would like to reduce their use. Twenty-nine percent of youth vape users who reported trying to quit said they have tried 10 or more times. This indicates that young people in Oklahoma may benefit from additional quit resources. Quit the Hit, the newest component of the TSET Healthy Youth Initiative, is a response to that need.
To sign up for Quit the Hit or to learn more, visit QuitTheHitNow. com.
For teens who prefer one-on-one quit assistance, TSET offers My Life, My Quit. My Life, My Quit, also an evidence-based cessation program, provides free live text support, web chat and phone coaching for teens 13-17 who are ready to quit vaping. To sign up for services, teens can simply text “Start My Quit” to 36072 for real-time coaching or visit MyLifeMyQuit. com to enroll online. Registration and use of services are confidential, and nicotine replacement therapy is not provided.
Quit the Hit is developed by Hopelab, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Rescue Agency.
