Development of a Vaping Cessation Text Messaging Intervention for Latino Young Adults: A Participatory Research Approach

Objective: Describe the participatory research procedures of developing Kick Vaping, a vaping cessation text messaging intervention for Latino young adults, available in English and Spanish. Methods: Using community-based recruitment strategies, we convened a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of eight Latino young adults (ages 18-25) with different vaping experiences (never users, ex-users, and current users of e-cigarettes). Members held a series of working meetings to adapt Decidetexto, a smoking cessation text messaging intervention, for vaping cessation. Members provided iterative feedback on the text messages until reaching a consensus on content. Messages were translated from English to Spanish following a committee approach. Readability assessments were used to evaluate the legibility of the text messages Results: At baseline, members' mean age was 22.6 years old (SD 3.1), 75% were female, and 50% used both English and Spanish equally. Three members (37.5%) were ex-users and one member (12.5%) was a current user of e-cigarettes. 18 meetings provided sufficient opportunities for iterative feedback on the text messages for developing the intervention. The Kick Vaping intervention consists of 208 text messages. Readability scores of the text messages in English were equivalent to fourth and fifth grade, and in Spanish were equivalent to easy and somewhat easy. Conclusion: It is feasible and practical to build participatory research among Latino young adults focused on vaping cessation. Members of the CAB added innovation and creativity to the development of the vaping cessation text messaging intervention. Future research is needed to evaluate the impact of the intervention on vaping cessation.