Identifying Adolescent Vaping With Screening to Brief Intervention and Brief Screener for Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Screening Tools

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to determine whether the modified Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI) and Brief Screener for Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs (BSTAD) that included e-cigarettes/vaping as examples could identify all nicotine and cannabis use or whether additional questions specifically about vaping are needed. MethodsBetween July 2020 and February 2022, adolescents recruited from primary care or an outpatient adolescent substance use disorder program were randomized to complete S2BI or BSTAD followed by specific questions about vaping. Screen questions were updated to include "vaping" in the parenthetical examples of nicotine and cannabis use. ResultsData from 502 adolescent participants who completed both the S2BI or BSTAD and vaping questions were analyzed. The S2BI and BSTAD identified 92% (23/25) and 100% (16/16) of nicotine vaping and 100% (16/16) and 95.5% (21/22) of cannabis vaping, respectively. DiscussionThe S2BI and BSTAD tools accurately identify nicotine and cannabis use without specific questions about vaping.