AHS to launch anti-vaping pilot program for junior high students

Alberta Health Services is set to launch an anti-vaping pilot program in some junior high schools to help youth resist peer pressure and develop critical thinking skills.

Dr. Karla Gustafson, medical health officer with AHS, says there's been a rapid and worrisome increase in vaping among youth, owing in part to the perception that vaping is safer than smoking. In fact, the full health impacts are not yet fully understood.

Some have also criticized tobacco companies for directly appealing to youth with fruity flavoured e-cigarette liquids and sleek designs.

"With vaping, what's been seen is it has this really techy allure, so kids are drawn to it," Gustafson told the Calgary Eyeopener.

The AHS pilot program for students in Grades 7 to 9 uses a gamified series of 15 lessons to help kids understand how to analyze risk, recognize health behaviours and improve their media literacy, she said.

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"It does have that kind of virtual feel and that game-like quality that engages children," Gustafson explained.

Rather than double down on the messaging that "this is bad for you, don't do it," the pilot curriculum aims to help kids manage stress, build confidence and self-reflect, Gustafson said.

"The evidence really shows that how you prevent uptake of any substance is by building those social competencies in kids where they can critically think, problem solve and make really good decisions."

The pilot will start in select schools in November.

AHS will then collect feedback from students and teachers to gauge whether the program was effective and if it should be rolled out more widely across the province.

Earlier this month, Health Canada warned of potential risk of pulmonary illness associated with vaping products after a series of deaths linked to e-cigarette use were reported in the United States.

No similar cases have been reported in Canada yet, but the Public Health Agency of Canada has alerted provincial and territorial public health officials and asked them to report possible incidents in their jurisdictions.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.