Vaping survey participants sought

A University of Queensland researcher is seeking Australian participants for a large-scale international study into vaping, according to a medicalxpress.com story.

School of Public Health Senior Research Fellow, Dr Coral Gartner, said there was a need for quality research on vaping as a harm reduction strategy, and on how policy impacts vaping and smoking behaviour – particularly smoking cessation.

“We are looking for 600 vapers in Australia to take part in the study which involves completing three online surveys over five years,” Gartner said.

Data from the Australian study group will be compared to that from participants in Canada, the UK and the US.

Gartner said she was interested in the extent to which people vaped without nicotine to replace behavioural aspects of smoking, and the extent to which they vaped with nicotine to replace the nicotine they previously obtained from cigarettes.

“We will look at factors such as the type of device that is used, knowledge and attitudes about smoking and vaping, and views on how these should be regulated,” Gartner said.

“We plan to follow participants over the five-year period to allow us to find out how their behaviour changes and how any changes in regulations during that time affect them.”

Participants need to be aged 18 years or older and currently vaping at least weekly, either with or without nicotine.

There is more information at: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/tobacco-harm-reduction.