An Australian-first research project which aims to deeply understand teenagers’ experiences with vaping has revealed that parents hold more power and influence in tackling vaping than they might realise.
The Influencing Gen Vape research, led by The Behaviour Change Collaborative in partnership with VicHealth, involved surveys and in-depth conversations with over 3,500 teenagers across Australia.
The results have been used to create Talking to your teen about vaping, an evidence-informed conversation guide for parents and carers. The guide helps decode a teenager’s motivations, attitudes and behaviours towards vaping, and understand what messages resonate most.
The BCC’s Managing Director Luke van der Beeke said it was important to not just think of young people as either ‘vapers’ or ‘non-vapers’.
“Our research shows it’s more nuanced than that, so our approach to addressing the issue needs to be more nuanced too.
“For example, the teenager who is curious but hasn’t tried vaping needs a different conversation and different information to the teen who is experimenting or the one who is addicted,” he said.
Dr Sandro Demaio, VicHealth CEO, said it was a welcome finding from the research to see that teenagers really trust their parents and value their opinions.
“Many parents and carers say they feel powerless when it comes to vaping, which is completely understandable.
“So, it was interesting and exciting to find that most teenagers, including those who vape, genuinely care what their parents think.
“We’re proud to partner with The Behaviour Change Collaborative on this groundbreaking project, and to start sharing the important findings with those working to positively influence teens’ attitudes and behaviours towards vaping,” Dr Demaio said.
The goal of the research, and the partnership more broadly, is for learnings to support local communities to craft health promotion interventions and messaging that will positively influence teens’ attitudes and behaviours towards vaping.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching
New Year’s resolutions are a time-honored tradition, a chance to set goals and make changes. However, many of us struggle to stick to these resolutions. The key to success lies in understanding our habits and leveraging them to our advantage. Let’s delve into the world of behavioural science to understand how we can use habits to help achieve our New Year’s resolutions.
Understanding habits
Habits are automatic responses to specific cues in our environment. They consist of three parts: the cue, the routine, and the reward. This is known as the Habit Loop. The cue triggers the routine, and the reward reinforces the habit.
To form a new habit, we need to establish a clear cue, a routine, and a reward. For example, if your resolution is to exercise more, your cue could be putting on your workout clothes, your routine could be a 30-minute workout, and your reward could be a healthy post-workout snack.
Changing an existing habit involves identifying the cue and reward and changing the routine. For instance, if you have a habit of eating junk food when you’re stressed (cue), you could change the routine to taking a walk or meditating, while still satisfying the reward of stress relief.
Behavioural science teaches us that we’re more likely to stick to habits that are easy, attractive, immediate, and satisfying. This is known as the Four Laws of Behaviour Change. Make your new habit easy by starting small, make it attractive by linking it to something you enjoy, make the reward immediate, and ensure it’s satisfying.
Figure 1: Habit loop
A checklist for achieving your New Year’s Resolutions
Here’s a simple checklist for you to use to help achieve your goals.
Identify Your Resolution: Be clear about what you want to achieve.
Understand the Habit Loop: Identify the cue, routine, and reward.
Form a New Habit: Establish a clear cue, routine, and reward.
Change an Existing Habit: Identify the cue and reward and change the routine.
Apply the Four Laws of Behaviour Change: Make your habit easy, attractive, immediate, and satisfying.
Cues
Cues are triggers that initiate a habit. They can come in various forms and are often linked to our environment or our daily routines. Examples include:
Time: A specific time of day can serve as a cue. For example, brushing your teeth first thing in the morning or right before bed.
Location: A particular place can trigger a habit. For instance, sitting at your desk might cue you to check your emails.
Preceding Event: One action can lead to another. If you always have a cup of coffee after breakfast, the act of finishing breakfast is the cue for the coffee habit.
Emotional State: Feelings can also serve as cues. For example, stress might cue you to bite your nails or snack on junk food.
Other People: The presence of certain people can trigger habits. For instance, meeting a particular friend might cue you to gossip.
Routine
A routine is the behavior that you perform, usually automatically and in response to the cue. It’s the actual ‘habit’ that you’re trying to establish or change. For example, if your habit is to go for a run every morning, the routine is the act of running.
Reward
This is the positive reinforcement that follows the routine. It’s what your brain associates with the pleasure or benefit of completing the routine, which strengthens the habit loop. The reward could be anything that you find enjoyable or satisfying. In the running example, the reward might be the feeling of accomplishment after a good run, the endorphin rush, or even a healthy post-run snack.
By manipulating the routine and reward you can change or form new habits. For instance, if you want to establish a habit of studying every evening, you could set a routine (studying for an hour after dinner) and a reward (a small treat or relaxation time afterwards). Over time, your brain will start to associate the cue (finishing dinner) with the reward, making the routine easier to stick to.
Making new habits ‘stick’
Making a habit stick involves a combination of understanding the habit loop and applying the principles of behavioural science. Here are some strategies:
Consistency: The more consistently you perform your habit, the more ingrained it becomes. Try to perform your new habit at the same time and place every day to reinforce the cue and make the habit automatic.
Start Small: Begin with a habit that’s so easy you can’t say no to it. Once the habit is established, you can gradually increase the complexity or duration.
Immediate Rewards: Immediate rewards are more effective than delayed rewards. Find a way to make your habit immediately satisfying to help reinforce the behavior.
Accountability: Share your goal with others or find a habit buddy. Accountability can provide an extra layer of motivation to stick to your habit.
Patience: Remember, habits take time to form. Don’t be discouraged by setbacks. Persistence is key.
Positive Reinforcement: Celebrate your successes, no matter how small. Positive reinforcement can help motivate you to keep going.
The goal is to make the habit a part of your identity. You’re not just trying to exercise regularly; you’re becoming a person who values health and fitness. This shift in mindset can make your habits stick. Start small, be consistent, and soon, you’ll find yourself making progress towards your New Year’s resolutions. Good luck!
The Behaviour Change Collaborative (The BCC) and VicHealth have joined forces on a major research project to explore teen vaping across Australia.
The project builds on The BCC’s Healthway funded Being Gen Vape research which provided insights into existing vaping attitudes, motivations and behaviours, and a preliminary model for the segmentation of teen vaping behaviour.
The value of quantification is not solely in establishing vaping prevalence but in the ability to profile each segment by motivation (need) and attitudes, behavioural patterns, and trajectory to addiction. This will help to identify whether targeted interventions should be prevention based or cessation based, and for whom.
“We’re pleased to be partnering with VicHealth on such an important public health issue,” said The BCC’s founder and managing director, Luke van der Beeke.
The intent of the research is to provide outputs that help interested parties to set policy and intervention priorities, strategy directions, and intervention activities. We want to contribute to a coordinated, evidence-informed approach to addressing teen vaping. The findings of the research will be delivered in a user-friendly and fit-for-purpose format that can be shared widely across sectors.
“This piece of work is intended to augment existing research projects and activities. Our focus is on the delivery of behaviourally informed findings that can be picked up and used to inform future practice,” Mr van der Beeke said.
Our earlier research clearly indicates that mass reach single-theme messaging will have limited impact with respect to breadth and scale, because of the clear existence of different attitudinal and behavioural teen vaping segments.
This research will help to direct communications content, so that it focused on the right motivation and persuasive message and can be targeted at the right group.
“We’re looking forward to generating findings that can be picked up and used by governments, NGO’s, and other stakeholders to inform health communications campaigns, as well as multi-lever health promotion and social marketing strategies,” Mr van der Beeke said.
If you’re a high school teacher, or the parent of a child in high school and you would like to get involved with this research, please email hello@thebcc.org.au
In early 2021, The BCC was commissioned by EMHS to support the Belmont, Victoria Park, South Perth Local Drug Action Group (BVPSP LDAG) develop its Youth Alcohol Action Plan. Minimising alcohol use and related harms among young people is a key priority for the LDAG.
Following the facilitation of two successful stakeholder engagement sessions with over 26 local partner organisations, we suggested meaningful consultation with young people was needed to sense check stakeholder outputs, and to obtain additional insight for potential use in the plan.
EMHS immediately supported the idea and leveraged its strong relationships with partner organisations to arrange two sessions with small groups of young people (aged 12-17) in South Perth and Belmont. The sessions were planned and facilitated by The BCC’s Luke van der Beeke, with the support of Olivia O’Connor Liv by Design.
The engagement captured the useful, and at times very candid views of 45 young people on their exposure to, and use of alcohol. We met on their terms, in places they felt comfortable and listened. Then we listened some more.
The sessions were designed to provide young people from a range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds with the opportunity to have their say in a safe and fun environment within their own community.
The two informal workshops proved to be confirmatory of stakeholder priorities, while also providing useful insights which were used to augment and fine tune the final plan.
We’d like to thank everyone we worked with at EMHS for the opportunity to engage on such a rewarding project, and particularly Megan Milligan, Colby McGuire and Linda Parsons. Thanks also to the BVPSP LDAG and all the local stakeholders we had the pleasure of meeting on the journey.
Congratulations to everyone involved on the nomination, and more importantly, on the development of the Plan itself.
The Behaviour Change Collaborative was contacted by ABC Mornings for an interview about our Being Gen Vape research following news of increased calls to help lines from teens struggling with vaping.
The interview with Luke van der Beeke is available in full below.
Eddie Williams interview with Luke van der Beeke (MP3)
by ABC Mornings Pilbara and Kimberley 16 November, 2022
If you’re a parent and keen to know more about our research on teen vaping and what teens think adults need to know you may be interested in our upcoming parent information webinar.
