Using electronic audience response technology to track e-cigarette habits among college freshmen.

PURPOSE: The use of e-cigarette devices, specifically JUUL, is on the rise on college campuses. Traditional means of collecting and analyzing research may not be fast enough for health professionals to effectively assess, plan, and implement effective prevention/intervention strategies.

PROCEDURES: In August 2018, during incoming student orientation sessions at seven different college campuses, data was collected on a specific e-cigarette, JUUL. Data on use and knowledge of JUUL, as well as traditional cigarette use, was collected via immediate electronic audience response devices. Analyses included calculating descriptive statistics for questions of interest.

RESULTS: Because response on each item was optional and anonymous, participation on specific questions varied and the total sample size for the questions of interest ranged from 1940 to 2027 students. Mean daily use rates were 13.7% (11.6-18.0%) for JUUL and 1.7% (1.3-2.5%) for cigarettes. Most students (67.3%) knew that JUUL always contained nicotine (38.4-84.5%), although 30.1% believed that it just contained nicotine and/or flavored vapor (15.5-50.0%), and 2.1% thought it was flavored vapor only (0.0-5.9%).

CONCLUSIONS: This study reports the highest daily use of e-cigarettes among college students in the literature to date, with past-month e-cigarette use and daily cigarette use on par with previous estimates. Findings also highlight the knowledge gaps that some users have about JUUL specifically. In order for college health educators and professionals to best help students, adoption of methods that allow for more rapid assessment of e-cigarette trends is needed. This will help campuses more effectively address this issue, closing the research-to-practice gap in college health.