E-cigarettes and emerging tobacco products attract young people through novel packaging, social media and short videos. The latest survey by the National Health Service shows that the e-cigarette usage rate among high school vocational students reaches 5.1%, and it is estimated that about 40,000 teenagers use e-cigarettes. This year, the National Health Service recruits young people aged 18 to 25 to serve as "Youth Ambassadors for the Quit Smoking Hotline". It hopes to enable young people to create IG posts and short videos in their own language, and transform the influence of their peers into anti-smoking and smoking cessation assistance.
The National Health Service held a press conference today (1st) on the "Smoking Smoking Hotline Youth Ambassador Community Promotion Plan" and announced the results of a survey on youth smoking behavior. It was found that the use rate of heated cigarettes was 1.8%, with an estimated 12,000 users. Although the cigarette smoking rate among teenagers has declined, in recent years cigarette manufacturers have targeted teenagers, adding additives such as floral and fruity flavors, chocolate, and mint to traditional cigarettes, or designing novel products to lure teenagers. As a result, 4 to 5 out of every 10 teenagers who smoke use flavored cigarettes.
In addition, some studies have pointed out that adolescent smoking behavior is closely related to factors such as peer interaction, sense of group belonging, and whether friends smoke. If peers smoke, the probability of starting smoking will increase by two times. This shows that adolescent smoking behavior is deeply influenced by peers, and peer support is also an important key to increasing the willingness and success rate of quitting smoking.
Shen Jingfen, director of the National Health Commission, pointed out that "teenagers' refusal to smoke is an attitude." She hopes that through the use of youth ambassadors to use the power of their peers, not smoking will become a tacit understanding and trend among young people, and create a fresh and smoke-free growth environment. The National Health Administration also reminds young people who need to quit smoking to call the toll-free smoking cessation hotline 0800-636363, or seek professional assistance through the official LINE account.
Guo Xinmei, an attending physician at the Department of Family Medicine at Changhua Christian Hospital, said that the marketing of cigarette products has long been replaced by novel and trendy clothes. E-cigarettes have quickly entered the daily lives of young people through multiple packaging, visual design, social communities and short videos. Therefore, health information cannot only stay in the clinic, campus lectures or promotional posters, but must also enter the social platforms that young people use every day.
She pointed out that young people understand young people best, and voices from the same age are more likely to be accepted by young people than official propaganda. Youth ambassadors have three major tasks, including producing pictures, texts and videos that are easy to understand and share, delivering correct information on quitting smoking on social platforms commonly used by young people, and guiding people who need to quit smoking to seek professional help.
Liu Zhijuan, the youth ambassador of the quit smoking line, will study at the Institute of Clinical Psychology of Sun Yat-sen University in the future. She has received training from the quit smoking short video competition and the navigator camp, and has become a part-time counselor of the quit smoking line. She said that quitting smoking is not an easy thing to achieve, but a process that requires companionship, understanding and support. She hopes that even if it can only affect a small group of people, she can provide assistance when someone needs it.
Youth Ambassador Yang Shengsheng has served on the front lines of long-term care institutions and has seen cases of disability caused by long-term smoking, or respiratory problems caused by second-hand smoke, requiring long-term care. Therefore, he hopes to use health education videos to transform difficult medical knowledge into content that young people can resonate with, so that tobacco hazard prevention can be intervened earlier.
