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NCT Number: NCT07624292

An Online Intervention to Reduce E-cigarette Use and Cigarette Smoking Risk in Adolescents

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a brief digital intervention can reduce e-cigarette use and prevent cigarette smoking initiation in teenagers ages 12-17. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Compared to the control condition, does the intervention reduce e-cigarette use frequency in teenagers? * Compared to the control condition, does the intervention reduce risk to start smoking cigarettes in teenagers? Researchers will compare the digital intervention to see if it leads to greater reductions in e-cigarette use and smoking risk than a waitlist control condition.

Participants will complete 5 brief online surveys across 12 weeks, and some will be selected to do a post-intervention virtual interview. In this interview, participants will be asked to share their opinions about the intervention and identify areas that need refinement.

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Key information

Conditions

E-cigarette Use Behavior Chemically-Induced Disorders Cigarette Smoking Risk Mental Disorders Smoking Substance-Related Disorders Tobacco Use Disorder Vaping

Age range

12 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • be between the ages of 12 to 17
  • be able to read English
  • be a current resident of California
  • report vaping at least one day per week in the past month
  • report no history of cigarette use at screening and baseline
  • have access to a computer or mobile device with internet access

Exclusion criteria

  • currently receiving nicotine cessation services

Treatment and study plan

Virtual Intervention for Behavioral Empowerment (VIBE)

Other

The intervention contains Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF), motivational interviewing (MI), and education about vaping and smoking harms. The program begins with the MI-based portion, which includes exploration of their experienced health and personal consequences of vaping and potential reasons for and motivation for shifting vaping behaviors (e.g., to save money, to be free from addiction). Second, the education portion involves presentation of the actual harms posed by e-cigarettes to clarify any misperceptions of the negative effects of vaping and nicotine exposure in teens. Next, users are presented with the PNF portion. In the PNF portion, participants receive feedback about their perceptions of peer vaping by presenting their typical behavior/attitude alongside their perceptions of others' behavior/attitude alongside the actual norm of the behavior/attitude. Lastly, strategies recommended for nicotine cessation are presented.

Primary outcomes

  1. Days vaped in the past 7 days

    Time frame: Past 7 day vaping measured at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-randomization.

    Participants will report the number of days they vaped in the past 7 days.

  2. Times vape is picked up per day

    Time frame: Past 7 day vaping measured at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-randomization.

    Participants will report the number of times they picked up their device to vape per day in the past 7 days.

  3. Smoking Susceptibility

    Time frame: Past 7 day smoking susceptibility measured at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-randomization.

    Smoking susceptibility will be assessed with the 4-item Expanded Susceptibility to Smoking Index, with the following responses: Definitely not, Probably not, Probably yes, and Definitely yes. This is a binary outcome. If a respondent answers "definitely not" to all four questions, they are categorized as not susceptible. Any other response on any item flags the respondent as susceptible.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Vaping Quit Attempts

    Time frame: Vaping quit attempts in the past 7 days assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Quit attempts will be measured with questions asking for the number of quit attempts lasting at least 1 day since the last assessment.

  2. Vaping Descriptive Normative Perceptions

    Time frame: Vaping normative perceptions assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Participants will report their beliefs regarding the percentage of teens who vaped, number of days individuals their age vaped, the number of times others their age picked up their vaping device per day in the past 30 days,

  3. Vaping Injunctive Normative Perceptions

    Time frame: Vaping normative perceptions assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Participants will report how much they believe others their age approve (or disapprove) of vaping using a 5-point Likert scale (responses options: Strongly disapprove to Strongly approve).

  4. Smoking Descriptive Normative Perceptions

    Time frame: Smoking normative perceptions assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Participants will report their beliefs about the percentage of teens who have smoked, the number of days others their age smoked in the past 30 days, and the quantity of cigarettes others their age smoked per day in the past 30 days.

  5. Smoking Injunctive Normative Perceptions

    Time frame: Smoking normative perceptions assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Participants will report how much they believe others their age approve (or disapprove) of cigarette smoking using a 5-point Likert scale (responses options: Strongly disapprove to Strongly approve).

  6. Quitting vaping self-efficacy

    Time frame: Self-efficacy in the past 7 days assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Self-efficacy will be assessed by 2 adapted items that originally assessed self-efficacy to quit smoking. Participants rate their confidence about quitting vaping "someday" and "in the next 6 months."

  7. Motivation to Quit Vaping

    Time frame: Motivation to quit in the past 7 days assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

    Motivation will be assessed by asking participants whether they were seriously thinking about quitting vaping with responses ranging from 1 = No, I am not thinking about quitting to 5 = Yes, I want to quit during the next 30 days.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Denise Tran, Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

17145487785

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Southern California

Other

Collaborators

  • Tobacco Related Disease Research Program

Registry information

Official study title

An Online Intervention to Reduce E-cigarette Use and Potential for Cigarette Smoking in Adolescents

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Jun 3, 2026
Registry last updated
Jun 3, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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