Online social forums: an effective support tool for young people who want to stop vaping

As young adults and adolescents are particularly affected by the vaping epidemic, a new study[1] conducted in the United States explores the benefits of adding an interactive social forum to a digital cessation program. Initial results show a significant effect on confidence in quitting. By integrating a Discord forum into the Truth Initiative's "This is Quitting" digital cessation program, researchers evaluated the benefits of real-time online social support in the cessation journey of young e-cigarette users.

The study draws on the "This is Quitting" (TIQ) program, a free, personalized digital cessation intervention via SMS developed by Truth Initiative, aimed at 13- to 24-year-olds. In February and March 2023, 527 young people who had joined TIQ were invited to join a Discord forum[2] private peer-to-peer training. Of these, 319 completed follow-up assessments one month after enrollment.

Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: a control group receiving only TIQ support, and an experimental group with additional access to the Discord platform. The objective was to assess the acceptability of this social space and its effect on two key indicators: confidence in the ability to quit vaping and self-reported abstinence. Measures included sociodemographic data, an e-cigarette dependence scale, a psychological distress index; data on consumption behaviors, as well as engagement indicators (number of messages and reactions on Discord).

Encouraging results on membership and support

Of the 319 young people invited to join the Discord platform as part of the study, 57.4% accepted—a particularly high participation rate compared to rates typically observed in online smoking cessation programs. This proportion, for example, exceeds that of other similar studies, where only a third of young people reported being willing to use a social network to quit smoking.

Among the young people who joined the Discord forum, 61.7 % (or 113 people) actually interacted, by posting a message or reacting to content.

From a psychosocial outcomes perspective, engagement on the Discord platform is associated with a significant improvement in confidence in quitting or maintaining quitting. Nearly 51.4% of youth active on Discord reported confidence in their ability to quit, compared to 44.3% in the control group. This difference, although modest, is statistically significant and consistent with data showing that self-confidence is a recognized predictor of maintaining abstinence in other smoking cessation studies.

In contrast, no statistically significant difference was observed regarding reported abstinence one month after inclusion: 33.6% of youth in the Discord group reported not having vaped in the past 30 days, compared to 26.2% in the TIQ-only group. This result, while encouraging, needs to be confirmed in longer-term studies, the authors indicate.

Also of note, the most engaged participants on Discord were those who had higher levels of psychological distress and reported more frequent use of other substances (alcohol, cannabis, combustible tobacco), suggesting that the need for social support is greater in these subpopulations.

Social platforms: a promising vector of support for young people's withdrawal

The study confirms that online social platforms can be a relevant lever to support young people in their efforts to quit vaping, in addition to traditional digital interventions and addiction treatment support. The opportunity to interact in real time with peers facing the same difficulties seems to meet a strong need for emotional and motivational support, often overlooked in traditional approaches to cessation.

Discord, a popular tool among teens and young adults, offers a flexible, informal, and secure space for discussion where participants can ask questions, share their progress, express their challenges, or simply read about each other's experiences. While active engagement (posts, reactions) remains relatively modest, the benefits for self-confidence appear significant. This underscores the importance of creating environments conducive to mutual support, even in the context of remote intervention.

The accessibility of these digital tools is also a significant asset. For many young people, particularly those living in disadvantaged social environments or facing forms of isolation, social media can become a preferred channel of support, more easily mobilized than face-to-face consultations.

Finally, the authors highlight the need for future research to better understand the effect of passive engagement—that is, reading messages without necessarily interacting—which could also generate psychological benefits. This type of use is common on social media and deserves to be taken into account more fully in impact assessments.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Do EK, Cha S, Tulsiani S, Edwards G, Yu LQ, Amato MS, Jacobs MA, Hair EC. Online social platform engagement by young treatment seekers in a digital vaping cessation intervention: Effects on confidence in the ability to quit vaping and vaping abstinence. Internet Interv. 2024 Oct 4;38:100779. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2024.100779. PMID: 39429750; PMCID: PMC11490902.

[2] Discord is an instant messaging and online chat platform, initially designed for gaming communities but now widely adopted by young people to share common interests. It allows the creation of private or public "servers," organized into text or voice chat rooms, promoting real-time interaction within groups of users.