Staff and Students at Thompson Rivers University have created a presentation for Kamloops area schools on the dangers of vaping.

A large part of the research and initial delivery of the presentation was done by two fourth year nursing students from TRU. The project was put together in coordination with the health promotion coordinator for School District 73.

The University’s Respiratory Therapy department worked for about two months putting it together. Cory Kroft says there are some specific themes it is focusing on. “Part of it is advertisement literacy. So giving them a bit more of an understanding of how it is marketed to them and less so to the adults who are using it to quit smoking. And then we get into detail about how their lungs function, how vaping can affect that and how nicotine and THC can affect their brains and bodies.”

Lecturer Allison Innes-Wiens says it was difficult to find exactly what they wanted in the presentation. “What we did was we did a scan throughout the district and asked five questions to find out what the students most wanted to learn. What they wanted to know about vaping, why they thought vaping was so appealing, so we could make the presentation most appealing to them. What they really wanted to know is what’s in the e-juice, so we did a lot of research into that.” She adds that many kids don’t even think about what it is they’re putting in their bodies. “A lot of them don’t know that it actually contains nicotine. So when they start vaping they actually do think they’re just vaping mango or vanilla flavour and they don’t realize that nicotine is in there and they don’t realize that, that’s the chemical that is addictive. So then they begin vaping and have a hard time stopping.”

Innes-Wiens says it has been about two weeks since they started delivering the presentation. She says it has talked to the majority of grade 7 students in the district and will next move on to grade 8 students.