Reflecting on My Journey so Far

Exponential amount of learning is what I would describe this course so far. Reflecting on this course, I was really surprised and felt very patriotic learning about the Ottawa Charter. I never knew that the term health promotion was first proposed and originated from Canada. Furthermore, I always saw health promotion and population health as interchangeable terms, but this course has helped me recognize the differences between them and highlight how they can interact with one another through the use of the Population Health Promotion model. Additionally, a lot of the learning that has happen in this course for me has been vastly due to the diverse professional backgrounds of my classmates. There are so many different health professions and viewpoints that are being highlighted in this course. This greatly helps with expanding my knowledge in this course.

As a respiratory therapist, vaping is a health issue that I am extremely concerned about. It has become increasingly common for individuals to vape now. A study by Tehrani et al, (2022) found that globally 23% of men and 11% of females currently vape. Additionally, it has been found that a vast majority of individuals that vape are adolescents and young adults. The Government of Canada (2024) found that 14% of Canadians aged 15 – 19 and 20% of Canadians aged 20 – 24 vape. Vaping has been associated with many adverse health diseases especially respiratory diseases. Vaping has been known to increase the likelihood of many respiratory disease processes like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, E-cigarette Vaping Acute Lung Injury (EVALI), bronchiolitis obliterans and lung cancer (Tehrani et al, 2022). However, many individuals believe that vaping is not harmful and much safer than smoking cigarettes. The spread of health misinformation has drastic increased with the use of social media. People are able to access information quicker and easier now. Consequently, the information being accessed is not always right. This is one of the biggest difficulties that is faced by health promotion.  

Going forward in this course, I hope to learn and utilize different theories and interventions to help implement change in the prevalence of vaping. I specifically want to learn how best to target adolescent vape users and promote vaping cessation strategies that would best resonate with them. I hope that this course and my health promotion project will help translate into something that can be placed into action.

References:

Government of Canada. (2024) About Vaping. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-tobacco/vaping.html

Tehrani, H., Rajabi, A., Ghelichi-Ghojogh, M., Nejatian, M., & Jafari, A. (2022). The prevalence of electronic cigarettes vaping globally: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Public Health, 80.

Health Misinformation

The use of the internet and social media has made health misinformation is rampant in todays society. People are being misinformed and misled for views. This is evident on TikTok. TikTok is a social media app that has accumulated over 1.1 billion users worldwide since its launch in 2016 (O'Sullivan et al, 2022). These videos are short videos and primarily entertainment based. However, the platform has been increasingly used to spread information about various medical conditions and treatments (O'Sullivan et al, 2022). Consequently, the information shared is not always correct and the spread of misinformation occurs. According to community guidelines published online by TikTok, misinformation is defined as “content that is inaccurate or false”, and the publication of “medical misinformation that can cause harm to an individual's physical health” is prohibited (O'Sullivan et al, 2022). However, many media outlets are very clever in the way they edit TikTok videos. This can be clearly seen in the TikTok made by Itvnews regarding vaping. Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling an aerosol produced by a vaping product, such as an electronic cigarette. Vaping involves heating a liquid into an aerosol and does not require burning like a cigarette (Bonner et al, 2021).

Here is the link: https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews/video/7148870466847984902

Based on the way this TikTok was edited, vaping is touted as a much safer option than smoking. The news anchor highlights that vaping is associated with fewer health risks and lower exposure to hazardous substances compared to smoking. Additionally, they also highlight that scientist recommend using vaping as an alternative to quit smoking. However, the news outlet does not state the name of the study. Although, these claims made by Itvnews are supported by evidence and studies. Hajek et al (2019) found that the use of vaping products is an effective tool to quit smoking and even found that vaping was more effective than other nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs). However, Itvnews presentation of vaping is misleading as they do not paint the full picture. Hajek et al (2019) also found that most people kept vaping after they stopped smoking cigarettes. As a result, these individuals were still being exposed to nicotine and other dangerous chemicals. Furthermore, simply stating that vaping is associated with fewer health risks compared to smoking is misleading. The news outlet fails to highlight all the adverse health effects associated with vaping. As a result, a person may interrupt vaping as a healthier option. Many studies have found adverse health effects in individuals who vape. Studies have shown that vaping increases the risk for adverse brain development, fetal development, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases (Gotts et al, 2019; Pisinger and Dossing, 2014; Tehrani et al, 2022). By not incorporating this in the TikTok, people may believe that vaping does not affect these areas of an individual’s health. Similar to smoking, vaping is associated with many different respiratory disease processes that affect the lungs. Vaping has been known to increase the likelihood of many respiratory disease processes like asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD), E-cigarette Vaping Acute Lung Injury (EVALI) and lung cancer (Tehrani et al, 2022). Additionally, the news outlet highlights that there are less hazardous substances in vaping but does not highlight that many substances found in vapes are very novel and the full extent of these substances are still unknown.  The presence of novel compounds found in vapes such as propylene glycol are not well studied. These novel compounds are not found in cigarettes and have an unknown impact on health (Pisinger and Dossing, 2014). Furthermore, vaping is still very novel and a lot more studies are still needed. Studies have clearly demonstrated a link between vaping and adverse health effects however, vaping is still very novel and the long-term health effects are not fully understood.  The evidence for long-term health effects is currently insufficient and further research needs to be done (Gotts et al., 2019). I believe in this instance, Itvnews should of highlighted that vaping is still not fully understood and more research is needed.  

Social media allows individuals to access massive amounts of information including health information. However, not all of the information found in social media is credible. In this instance, Itvnews shared credible information regarding vaping and smoking but excluded other major information. Exclusion of information is just as detrimental as misinformation especially if social media is the main outlet that an individual utilizes for health information. Social media is a good initial source of information. It can be used to obtain some background but credible sources such as the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, governmental websites and peer reviewed journals. Educating individuals on how to successfully verify and evaluate health information online will help drastically reduce the spread of misinformation (O'Sullivan et al, 2010).  

References:

Bonner, E., Chang, Y., Christie, E., Colvin, V., Cunningham, B., Elson, D., ... & Tanguay, R. L. (2021). The chemistry and toxicology of vaping. Pharmacology & therapeutics,  225, 107837.

O'Sullivan, N. J., Nason, G., Manecksha, R. P., & O'Kelly, F. (2022). The unintentional spread of misinformation on ‘TikTok’; a paediatric urological perspective. Journal of pediatric urology, 18(3), 371-375.

Gotts, J. E., Jordt, S. E., McConnell, R., & Tarran, R. (2019). What are the respiratory effects of e-cigarettes?. bmj, 366.

Hajek, P., Phillips-Waller, A., Przulj, D., Pesola, F., Myers Smith, K., Bisal, N., ... & McRobbie, H. J. (2019). A randomized trial of e-cigarettes versus nicotine-replacement therapy. New England journal of medicine, 380(7), 629-637.

Pisinger, C., & Døssing, M. (2014). A systematic review of health effects of electronic cigarettes. Preventive medicine, 69, 248-260.

Tehrani, H., Rajabi, A., Ghelichi-Ghojogh, M., Nejatian, M., & Jafari, A. (2022). The prevalence of electronic cigarettes vaping globally: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Public Health, 80.

Vaping: A Health Promotion Learning Journey Reflection

As a respiratory therapist, I am extremely intrigued and fascinated with the idea of vaping as a health promotion topic. Vaping has quickly integrated into society and has become a social norm amongst a vast majority of people. The Government of Canada (2024) found in 2022 that 6% of Canadians aged 15 and older had reported vaping in the past 30 days. Additionally, the Government of Canada (2024) reports that 17% of students in grades 7-12 reported using a vaping product within the last 30 days. Furthermore, it was found that 16% of students have used an e-cigarette with nicotine and 4% had used an e-cigarette without nicotine in the past 30 days (Government of Canada, 2024). Similarly, studies from the United States estimate that 20% of American high school students are regular vape users, in contrast to the 5% of adults who use vape products (Jonas, 2022). Teen and young adult uptake in vaping has been driven in part by a perception of vaping as a safer alternative to cigarettes, as well as marketing strategies that target adolescents (Jonas, 2022). 

Personally, I know many friends, acquaintances, colleagues, family members that vape. Unfortunately, my own younger brother vapes as well. Working as a respiratory therapist, I have firsthand seen what the effects of smoking and vaping can have on an individual's health. I have seen drastic declines in lung health ranging from the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, immunocompromise requiring intubation and overall decline in health through the development of co-morbidities. As a result, this topic makes me extremely nervous as it effects individuals with whom I have close relationships with. Like many of us, witnessing individuals we care about becoming ill and suffering is extremely difficult. As a result, this motivates me to encourage loved ones and people I care about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle.  

I am excited to immerse myself in this topic and learn as much as I can. I want to be as up to date as possible surrounding the current literature around vaping. I have many personal learning goals surrounding this topic. Firstly, I would like to know why people vape, especially younger individuals. The Government of Canada (2024) found that the main reason for vaping in among 15-24 years was to reduce stress while the main reason for vaping in individuals 25 and older was to reduce, quit or avoid returning to smoking. However, when I ask my brother this question, I receive an unclear and vague response of I just like too. Secondly, I would like to learn more about the current literature on the extent of lung damage due to vaping. Personally, many individuals I know are under the false belief that vaping is not like smoking cigarettes and as a result you are not damaging your lungs. The EVALI study found an increase in vaping related lung injury however, no statistically significant link was found between lung injury and vaping as the pool of data was to small (Jonas, 2022). Furthermore, I would personally like to learn about different techniques, frameworks, and strategies that could be implemented and utilized to create change in vaping habits. This personally excites me as I have a lot of friends and family members that participate in vaping. I hope to use the knowledge I gain to create change in the vaping habits of individuals I interact with. Currently, literature and research on vaping is still very limited. There has been great head way into the topic but much about vaping remains unknown, more research is still required. As a result, and looking ahead in the future, this may present as an obstacle and challenge that I may have to navigate as I pursue this health promotion topic.

References:

Government of Canada. (2024). Vaping in Canada: What we know. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-tobacco/surveys-statistics-research/vaping-what-we-know.html

Jonas, A. (2022). Impact of vaping on respiratory health. bmj, 378.