Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
4 seconds ago
Left to Right: Melody Khan (Masters Student), Dr Sue Scott-Chapman (Secondary Supervisor), Associate Professor Anita Jagroop-Dearing (Principal Supervisor/Lead Researcher) and Associate Professor Rachel Forrest (Student Mentor).
An EIT research project addressing the epidemic of youth vaping among intermediate and high school students in Hawke’s Bay has been extended outside of the region following interest from a Bay of Plenty High School.
The extended out-of-region study titled ‘Vaping Landscape’ complements an existing study ‘Scoping solutions to address the epidemic of youth vaping in Aotearoa’ which is currently being conducted by a team led by Associate Professor Anita Jagroop-Dearing from EIT.
Vaping Landscape will focus on Pāpāmoa College and is being conducted by EIT Masters of Health Science student Melody Khan, who has been involved in the original study.
It is funded by a second grant from the Health Research Foundation Hawke’s Bay, which adds to the pool of funding for the project including grants from the Health Research Council and EIT.
Both studies hope to capture the stories, experiences and health awareness of e-cigarette vaping by youth. It will also make for a comparison of regional variations in vaping behaviours.
Anita says it will be the first comprehensive investigation into vaping among intermediate and high school students between two areas in New Zealand.
“We are working with a number of schools across Hawke’s Bay and additional funding has enabled the involvement of out-of-region schools.
“Pāpāmoa College approached us to say that they were experiencing issues to do with vaping in their school and that they would like to be a part of our study. After confirming the feasibility, obtaining the necessary ethics approval, and securing funding for an out-of-region school, we included them to conduct comparative studies.”
The college has more than 1700 students, of whom 28 percent are Māori and six percent are Pasifika.
“Previous data indicated higher vaping rates among Māori and Pacific students compared to their non-Māori and non-Pacific peers. Therefore, we aim to compare the vaping behaviours in this school with those in Hawke’s Bay.”
Anita hypothesises that there may be regional differences between vaping behaviours in youth with distinctions in narrative of experiences and self-awareness.
Melody previously graduated with a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at EIT. After being displaced due to Cyclone Gabrielle, she was able to pivot and extend this study for her masters.
“Initially I started with nutrition. My original masters thesis was nutrition and nutritional labelling, but when this opportunity opened up, I jumped on it because it’s something that’s going to need further research and is becoming more prevalent.”
Pāpāmoa College Deputy Principal (Tumuaki Katiriwā) Ben Ormsby says when they heard about the study, they thought why not reach out and see if they could be a part of it.
“Like most schools, we have been seeing an increase in vaping related incidents. Our rationale was that, while we are trying to find ways to educate students, we might as well volunteer to be part of the study.”
Ben says that the feedback from their community has been really positive about them being involved in the trial.
“We would suspect that whilst schools are struggling with youth vaping, the wider community is also seeing the impacts. The feedback to date would suggest the community is glad we are trying to do something about it.”
They are now looking forward to seeing what comes out of the study.
“If the information our students give forward contributes to something positive to tackle youth vaping, whether that be strategies or messaging then we thought it will be well worth it.”