Youth Tobacco and Vape Prevention

Southeastern Idaho Public Health’s Youth Tobacco and Vape Prevention program helps schools, students, and families reduce nicotine use through education, outreach, and evidence-based prevention strategies.

What does this program do?

As part of this effort, the youth vaping prevention coordinator works to prevent nicotine use among youth through education and outreach. This includes implementing CATCH My Breath, an evidence-based program that teaches students about the risks of vaping, refusal skills, and healthy decision-making.

Core program activities include reaching out to schools in all eight counties to offer vaping prevention programming and coordinate scheduling, teaching the CATCH My Breath program in classrooms or school assemblies, and training teachers to deliver the program themselves.

The program also provides schools and families with current information about youth vaping trends, offers guidance to school staff and parents, and connects communities with resources where needed.

How does this program benefit individuals and communities?

• Provides students with accurate information about vaping and helps them build skills to make healthy choices
• Helps schools implement evidence-based prevention strategies to reduce vaping among students
• Reduces overall health risks in the community by lowering rates of addiction, respiratory issues, and poor mental health associated with nicotine use

What is most important for people to understand?

The most important thing to understand is that prevention is more effective than trying to stop nicotine use after it has already begun. Most nicotine addictions start during adolescence, and once use begins, quitting can be very difficult.

The brain does not fully develop until around age 25, and tobacco products can affect brain development in important ways. This program gives schools and young people evidence-based tools that encourage youth to stay nicotine-free and support healthier futures.

What would happen without this program?

• Young people and the community would have fewer resources and less knowledge about vaping
• Higher rates of nicotine addiction among youth could negatively affect mental health and students’ academic success
• Youth would have less understanding of the harms and risks of vaping, which could lead them to believe it is not harmful
• Schools would have less guidance and fewer resources on how to address youth vaping and nicotine addiction
• Long-term health outcomes for individuals and the community would likely worsen without prevention and education