Grant Number:	5R01CA242171-04 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Kelder, Steven
Organization:	University Of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston
Project Title:	Middle School Cluster Rct to Evaluate E-Cigarette Prevention Program: Catch My Breath
Fiscal Year:	2022

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The goal of this research is to empirically assess the three year effects of the ‘CATCH My Breath’ (CMB) program on delaying the onset of e-cigarette use with a 6th–8th grade cohort, using a 20-school group randomized controlled trial (RCT), with 1,400 students. E-cigarettes have grown in popularity and are the most commonly used tobacco product by US youth. Based on 2017 Monitoring the Future estimates, we project that 1.6 million middle school students will have ever tried an e-cigarette. Flavors such as candy and fruit are appealing to youth and play an important role in encouraging nonsmokers (and smokers) to try them. Although e-cigarettes are less harmful compared to combustible tobacco use, they contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. Recent research, including a 2017 meta analysis, strongly suggests that youth who only smoke e-cigarettes exhibit symptoms of addiction, and over time, are more likely to experiment with and use combustible tobacco. To avoid the possibility of nicotine addiction, nonsmoking youth should be educated about this health threat and discouraged from experimenting with e-cigarettes. Unfortunately, few e-cigarette prevention programs exist, and none tested for long-term efficacy. In addition, although some tobacco prevention programs have included an e-cigarette component, to our knowledge, none of these revised programs have been formally evaluated. The lack of e-cigarette specific program content, and rigorous evaluation, warrants the proposed project. CMB was developed and custom built with input from school administrators, health education coordinators, tobacco prevention educators, classroom teachers, students, and parents. CMB has been formatively evaluated and pilot tested at 59 middle schools in 7 states, resulting in positive feedback from over 100 middle school teachers and 9,578 6th–8th grade students. Our second pilot test was a pretest-posttest controlled experiment (2017-2018), and resulted in an treatment-control difference of 3.8% in ever smoking over a 16-month period. Finally, the research team, with the CATCH Global Foundation, have developed a digital school-health program distribution framework which includes in-person or on-line teacher training (https://catchinfo.org/modules/e- cigarettes/). Using this framework, CMB can be delivered to teachers at very low cost, eliminating cost and access to program materials as major barriers to program implementation. Given CMB’s current popularity with schools as a ‘best practice’ program, and with initial positive results, a full scale randomized control trial is needed to determine longer term, 6th-8th grade efficacy.




Remote Versus In-Person Learning During COVID-19: Comparison of E-Cigarette Susceptibility and Ever Use Among a Diverse Cohort of 6th-Grade Students in Texas.
Authors: Mantey D.S. , Omega-Njemnobi O. , Ruiz F.A. , Chen B. , Springer A.E. , Kelder S.H. .
Source: Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal Of The Society For Research On Nicotine And Tobacco, 2023-01-05 00:00:00.0; 25(2), p. 254-260.
PMID: 35366321
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School Connectedness and E-cigarette Susceptibility/ Ever Use in Texas 6^th-Grade Students.
Authors: Springer A.E. , Mantey D.S. , Omega-Njemnobi O. , Ruiz F. , Attri S. , Chen B. , Marshall A. , Kelder S.H. .
Source: American Journal Of Health Behavior, 2022-12-30 00:00:00.0; 46(6), p. 673-682.
PMID: 36721289
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Using Community-Academic Partnerships and a Creative Expression Contest to Engage Youth in the Development of Communication Materials for Promoting Behaviors That Prevent COVID-19.
Authors: Szeszulski J. , Helal Salsa G. , Cuccaro P. , Markham C.M. , Martin M. , Savas L.S. , Valerio-Shewmaker M. , Walker T.J. , Springer A.E. .
Source: Health Promotion Practice, 2022 Jul; 23(4), p. 609-618.
EPub date: 2022-01-19 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 35043711
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Use frequency and symptoms of nicotine dependence among adolescent E-cigarette users: Comparison of JUUL and Non-JUUL users.
Authors: Mantey D.S. , Case K.R. , Omega-Njemnobi O. , Springer A.E. , Kelder S.H. .
Source: Drug And Alcohol Dependence, 2021-11-01 00:00:00.0; 228, p. 109078.
EPub date: 2021-09-24 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 34614433
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Dissemination of CATCH My Breath, a middle school E-Cigarette prevention program.
Authors: Kelder S.H. , Mantey D.S. , Van Dusen D. , Vaughn T. , Bianco M. , Springer A.E. .
Source: Addictive Behaviors, 2021 02; 113, p. 106698.
EPub date: 2020-10-10 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33130463
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Association between observing peers vaping on campus and E-cigarette use and susceptibility in middle and high school students.
Authors: Mantey D.S. , Omega-Njemnobi O. , Ruiz F.A. , Vaughn T.L. , Kelder S.H. , Springer A.E. .
Source: Drug And Alcohol Dependence, 2021-02-01 00:00:00.0; 219, p. 108476.
EPub date: 2020-12-24 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33360854
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A Middle School Program to Prevent E-Cigarette Use: A Pilot Study of "CATCH My Breath".
Authors: Kelder S.H. , Mantey D.S. , Van Dusen D. , Case K. , Haas A. , Springer A.E. .
Source: Public Health Reports (washington, D.c. : 1974), 2020 Mar/Apr; 135(2), p. 220-229.
EPub date: 2020-01-22 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 31968177
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