Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the Pacific Small Island Developing States: a systematic review. Pokino, M., McCool, P. J., Dobson, D. R., Hanchard, D. S., & Bullen, P. C. Pacific Health Dialog, August, 2025. ![Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the Pacific Small Island Developing States: a systematic review [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper abstract bibtex Background: Vaping is now the most common form of tobacco use among young people, despite potential harms. The Western Pacific region (WPRO) has one of the highest numbers of young vapers among the World Health Organization regions. This is concerning as it holds some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, such as the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSID), with severe health burdens. Social media has been demonstrated by previous research as an effective medium for influencing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people about the harms associated with vaping. However, these studies have been conducted in high-income countries, and to our knowledge, no social media interventions addressing vaping among young people have been tested within the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Therefore, this review aims to explore the effectiveness of using social media for addressing vaping among young people, identify features associated with success and consider the applicability of this study to the PSID regions. Methods: We searched Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed for articles, including assessing selected articles' references. We included studies that used social media as intervention platforms about the harms of vaping and provided knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural outcomes after the intervention. Results: We identified 27 original studies that showed all social media vape interventions were effective in achieving some level of change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of young people and adolescents aged between 10 to 24 years regarding the harms associated with vaping. However, the applicability of this finding to the Pacific Small Island Developing States remains unclear. From this review, several considerations were identified that need to be addressed before adapting this intervention to the PSID regions, this includes telecommunication and support infrastructure capabilities from within these nations. Conclusions: This review highlighted a range of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of social media-based vaping interventions. Due to the widespread use of social media, as well as its low cost, social media may be an important vehicle for risk communication to reduce the burdens of preventable nicotine-related illness within the PSIDs.
@article{pokino_using_2025,
title = {Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the {Pacific} {Small} {Island} {Developing} {States}: a systematic review},
volume = {25},
copyright = {Copyright (c) 2025 Mayor Pokino, Jude, Dr Rosie Dobson, Dr Sandra Hanchard, Professor Chris Bullen},
issn = {2422-8656},
shorttitle = {Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the {Pacific} {Small} {Island} {Developing} {States}},
url = {https://pacifichealthdialog.nz/index.php/phd/article/view/179},
abstract = {Background: Vaping is now the most common form of tobacco use among young people, despite potential harms. The Western Pacific region (WPRO) has one of the highest numbers of young vapers among the World Health Organization regions. This is concerning as it holds some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, such as the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSID), with severe health burdens. Social media has been demonstrated by previous research as an effective medium for influencing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people about the harms associated with vaping. However, these studies have been conducted in high-income countries, and to our knowledge, no social media interventions addressing vaping among young people have been tested within the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Therefore, this review aims to explore the effectiveness of using social media for addressing vaping among young people, identify features associated with success and consider the applicability of this study to the PSID regions.
Methods: We searched Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed for articles, including assessing selected articles' references. We included studies that used social media as intervention platforms about the harms of vaping and provided knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural outcomes after the intervention.
Results: We identified 27 original studies that showed all social media vape interventions were effective in achieving some level of change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of young people and adolescents aged between 10 to 24 years regarding the harms associated with vaping. However, the applicability of this finding to the Pacific Small Island Developing States remains unclear. From this review, several considerations were identified that need to be addressed before adapting this intervention to the PSID regions, this includes telecommunication and support infrastructure capabilities from within these nations.
Conclusions: This review highlighted a range of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of social media-based vaping interventions. Due to the widespread use of social media, as well as its low cost, social media may be an important vehicle for risk communication to reduce the burdens of preventable nicotine-related illness within the PSIDs.},
language = {en},
number = {3},
urldate = {2025-09-05},
journal = {Pacific Health Dialog},
author = {Pokino, Mayor and McCool, Professor Judith and Dobson, Dr Rosie and Hanchard, Dr Sandra and Bullen, Professor Chris},
month = aug,
year = {2025},
keywords = {Pacific Small Island Developing States, campaign, social media, vaping, youth},
}
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The Western Pacific region (WPRO) has one of the highest numbers of young vapers among the World Health Organization regions. This is concerning as it holds some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, such as the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSID), with severe health burdens. Social media has been demonstrated by previous research as an effective medium for influencing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people about the harms associated with vaping. However, these studies have been conducted in high-income countries, and to our knowledge, no social media interventions addressing vaping among young people have been tested within the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Therefore, this review aims to explore the effectiveness of using social media for addressing vaping among young people, identify features associated with success and consider the applicability of this study to the PSID regions. Methods: We searched Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed for articles, including assessing selected articles' references. We included studies that used social media as intervention platforms about the harms of vaping and provided knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural outcomes after the intervention. Results: We identified 27 original studies that showed all social media vape interventions were effective in achieving some level of change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of young people and adolescents aged between 10 to 24 years regarding the harms associated with vaping. However, the applicability of this finding to the Pacific Small Island Developing States remains unclear. From this review, several considerations were identified that need to be addressed before adapting this intervention to the PSID regions, this includes telecommunication and support infrastructure capabilities from within these nations. Conclusions: This review highlighted a range of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of social media-based vaping interventions. Due to the widespread use of social media, as well as its low cost, social media may be an important vehicle for risk communication to reduce the burdens of preventable nicotine-related illness within the PSIDs.","language":"en","number":"3","urldate":"2025-09-05","journal":"Pacific Health Dialog","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Pokino"],"firstnames":["Mayor"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["McCool"],"firstnames":["Professor","Judith"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Dobson"],"firstnames":["Dr","Rosie"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hanchard"],"firstnames":["Dr","Sandra"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Bullen"],"firstnames":["Professor","Chris"],"suffixes":[]}],"month":"August","year":"2025","keywords":"Pacific Small Island Developing States, campaign, social media, vaping, youth","bibtex":"@article{pokino_using_2025,\n\ttitle = {Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the {Pacific} {Small} {Island} {Developing} {States}: a systematic review},\n\tvolume = {25},\n\tcopyright = {Copyright (c) 2025 Mayor Pokino, Jude, Dr Rosie Dobson, Dr Sandra Hanchard, Professor Chris Bullen},\n\tissn = {2422-8656},\n\tshorttitle = {Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the {Pacific} {Small} {Island} {Developing} {States}},\n\turl = {https://pacifichealthdialog.nz/index.php/phd/article/view/179},\n\tabstract = {Background: Vaping is now the most common form of tobacco use among young people, despite potential harms. The Western Pacific region (WPRO) has one of the highest numbers of young vapers among the World Health Organization regions. This is concerning as it holds some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, such as the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSID), with severe health burdens. Social media has been demonstrated by previous research as an effective medium for influencing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people about the harms associated with vaping. However, these studies have been conducted in high-income countries, and to our knowledge, no social media interventions addressing vaping among young people have been tested within the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Therefore, this review aims to explore the effectiveness of using social media for addressing vaping among young people, identify features associated with success and consider the applicability of this study to the PSID regions.\nMethods: We searched Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed for articles, including assessing selected articles' references. We included studies that used social media as intervention platforms about the harms of vaping and provided knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural outcomes after the intervention.\nResults: We identified 27 original studies that showed all social media vape interventions were effective in achieving some level of change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of young people and adolescents aged between 10 to 24 years regarding the harms associated with vaping. However, the applicability of this finding to the Pacific Small Island Developing States remains unclear. 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