Paid To Vape?

The study’s authors say: “Socioeconomic disadvantage is linked with greater tobacco-related cancer incidence and mortality. Although standard cessation approaches are helpful for many, alternative strategies may benefit those who are unable to quit following traditional evidence-based treatment recommendations.”

The smoking rate is over 70% in U.S. adults experiencing homelessness. The team believes that this is an unsustainable situation and novel approaches are required as the current set of approaches are not working.

“The current study evaluated the feasibility and potential efficacy of an e-cigarette switching intervention offered with and without financial incentives, with the goal of promoting cessation among adults accessing day shelter services,” they say.

The team recruited 60 adult smokers who attend a day shelter and randomly assigned them to groups who either would or wouldn’t receive money to encourage them to switch to vaping.

All participants received a vape and pods during the first 4 weeks post-switch, with the groups receiving an financial incentive being given an increasing amount for every week they remained tobacco free.

“Carbon monoxide-verified rates were modest overall at follow-ups, yet still promising, given the barriers faced by this population,” they discovered. “Past week e-cigarette use remained high at follow-ups (71–81 %), with slightly more days of e-cigarette use in the [money groups] than the EC group in the short-term. Overall, participants reported that the e-cigarettes were helpful for avoiding cigarettes, and most reported a high likelihood of switching from [smoking] to e-cigarettes in the future.”

The team believes: “E-cigarette switching has the potential to reduce harm among adults accessing day shelter service, and offering incentives for [smoking] cessation may enhance the benefits.”

The team points to a wealth of evidence demonstrating vaping’s efficacy in helping adult smokers to quit:

• Bullen et al., 2013
• Foulds et al., 2022
• Hajek et al., 2019
• Hajek et al., 2019
• Hatsukami et al., 2019
• Walker et al., 2020

They also note that work has also been completed looking at the feasibility and potential efficacy of offering e-cigarettes as a harm-reduction strategy among adults experiencing homelessness:

• Collins et al., 2019
• Dawkins et al., 2020
• Scheibein et al., 2020
• Cox et al. (2022) 

They concluded: “E-cigarette switching is a promising approach to tobacco harm reduction among adults experiencing homelessness, and the effect of e-cigarette switching interventions may be enhanced by incentivising abstinence. However, intervention refinements are needed to provide education and increase engagement, and a longer-term intervention strategy may be needed. 

“Tobacco harm reduction via e-cigarette switching among adults experiencing homelessness offers one approach to addressing significant tobacco-related health disparities in a frequently overlooked and underserved population.”

References:

• E-Cigarette switching and financial incentives to promote combustible cigarette cessation among adults accessing shelter services: A pilot study - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772724624000799#bib61

Photo Credit:

• Banner image created using Grok AI

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.