Your voice, your health Camden series:Vaping

Healthwatch Camden undertook a project to look at the health concerns of young people aged 13 - 24 on three key areas:

• Mental Health
• Sexual Health
• Use of e-cigarettes

This report looks at vaping.  They spoke to 93 young people who weren't able to vape legally.

Speaking to young people about their perceptions and experiences of vaping revealed the current interplay of influences, health priorities, risk factors, and health concerns, all of which need understanding to inform preventative and educational strategies. Healthwatch heard how the rising tide of e-cigarette use among young people plays out at a local level, painting a nuanced picture of the motivations driving experimentation and regular use of e-cigarettes. The report emphasises young people’s need for clear factual information in order for them to make an informed decision about vaping.

The young people readily acknowledged the potential impact on health and addiction from vaping. Research into long-term health risks, especially on young people, is slow and insufficient to inform more stringent policy. Young people experience this gap in knowledge and express their desire for more to be done about it. However, a notable gap between health concerns and health behaviour also persists among the youth. This disparity brings focus on the need for up-to-date, evidenced, and engaging health awareness strategies to deter young people from vaping. The research also reveals how family vaping and smoking status impacts the young person’s perception of vaping, and how cultural and religious backgrounds can impact attitudes towards vaping in both positive and negative ways, emphasising the value of culturally sensitive public health strategies. 

The growing perception among some young people that vaping relieves stress is a worrying insight, given the risk of poor mental health outcomes of vaping and nicotine. With mental health needs among youth in the Borough increasing considerably, close attention must be paid to how this interdependence evolves, so that public health bodies or youth workers are not caught off guard by any unintended outcomes. The provision of effective mental health support is a universal safeguard against poor health outcomes, and youth vaping is just one more risk factor to be taken into consideration by policymakers. Education about the mental health effects of vaping must include increased awareness about the numerous healthy alternatives and support available to young people. 

The ease and creativity with which minors are accessing restricted vaping products in Camden speaks volumes about the difficulty in monitoring and enforcing regulations. The introduction of the ban on disposables, which also promises more funding and greater powers to local enforcement officers, will require monitoring for impact. Recommendations around greater awareness of health risks, regulatory reform, educational interventions, all are underpinned by the urgent need for more research into youth vaping. Longitudinal studies involving young people are crucial in understanding the long-term physical and psychological health of vaping. Public health messaging must stay on top of emerging data so that it can effectively balance the promotion of vaping as a smoking cessation tool against the efforts to reduce youth exposure to vaping.