Mufazzela Tabassum presenting her research titled “Examining Young Adult E-Cigarette Users by Device Type: A Latent Class Analysis”
Author: Mufazzela Tabassum | Major: Public Health | Semester: Spring 2023
Recently, I attended the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco conference in San Antonio, Texas from March 1-3rd to co-present a poster with my mentor, Dr. Page Dobbs, on our research titled “Examining Young Adult E-Cigarette Users by Device Type: A Latent Class Analysis.” Currently in the e-cigarette market, there’s a wide variety of e-cigarette devices, and this includes devices such as vape pens, box mods, JUUL pod, non-JUUL pods, Puff Bar disposables, and non-Puff Bar disposables. Because all these devices vary greatly in features, flavors, and addictive properties, we wanted to examine if there are groups of users who exclusively use specific type(s) of e-cigarette devices. For our methods, we used an online cross-sectional survey to ask e-cigarette users which types of devices they commonly use and then conducted a latent class analysis which grouped e-cigarette users into different classes depending on their responses on the devices they use.
At the conference there were a series of poster sessions in which nicotine and tobacco researchers from all over the world were able to share their research related to this field. While presenting our poster, I was able to have very insightful and meaningful conversations with other professionals about the findings from our research. I was able to explain to other researchers that e-cigarette users are not a homogenous group of people, and our findings suggest that there are distinct groups of e-cigarette users; in our study, we found five different classes of e-cigarette users who exclusively used specific type(s) of e-cigarette devices. This sparked a lot of interesting discussions on why this may be the case. I also explained how knowing the significant differences between e-cigarette users who use different types of devices can help tailor the development of intervention strategies that are unique and specific to each class of e-cigarette users. Engaging in this dialogue with others helped me gain experience on how to articulate the findings of my research quickly and effectively. In addition, answering questions related to my research challenged me intellectually and made me analyze my research from a variety of different perspectives.
This trip also contributed significantly to my professional development in many ways. During one of the poster sessions, I was able to view a lot of research that was similar to my research but with different variables. For example, I was able to have a very fascinating conversation with a researcher from the Truth Initiative. Their research was on the correlation between e-cigarette device type and the level of dependency among users. While my research did not focus on the levels of dependency among e-cigarette users, because of the background I had on device types, I was able to discuss and make many unique connections between these two topics.
I also attended a series of podium presentations in which researchers discussed various trends in the use of e-cigarettes. One of the most memorable presentations I attended was presented by Harry Tattan-Birch and titled “Causes and consequences of the rise in disposable vapes.” This topic was intriguing to me for many reasons. While conducting my own research, I learned that users reported using disposable e-cigarette devices mainly because they are easy to access (widely available) and very convenient to use. Tattan-Birch addressed this very issue and discussed how this poses a dilemma and creates a “chicken or the egg” situation. For example, he raised the question “are disposable vapes popular because they are widely available or are they widely available because they are popular and have a great demand?” This question really made me think deeply of whether it is the consumers that ultimately drive the demand for specific types of e-cigarette devices or if it is the manufacturers that have a greater role in influencing the types of devices that will be most used.
Overall, attending the conference was a phenomenal experience. It expanded my ability to confidently speak about my research and to think critically while analyzing research. I also learned about how the popularity of nicotine and tobacco products originated and how throughout history there have been several different interventions and public health campaigns to reduce the use of products that contain these substances. Most importantly, I learned that one of the biggest challenges to reducing the use of these products is that the landscape, markets, and people’s perceptions and attitudes towards nicotine and tobacco products are constantly evolving. The only way to rise to this challenge is by always having up-to-date research on these topics and adapting to the needs presented in each period of time as quickly as possible. I hope to contribute to these efforts by continuing to do research that explores the use of nicotine and tobacco products so that it can influence the development of policies that can reduce the use of products such as e-cigarettes.