Vaping Prevention Project

    Barwon South West

    The Issue

    The Evidence

    Vaping is on the rise across the Barwon South West (BSW) region, especially in young people who have never smoked. In a 2023 community consultation by Barwon Health Healthy Communities (BHHC) schools and families from the region made it clear they cannot address this issue on their own. 

    We know from research (Generation Vape, Cancer Council NSW) that usage is high (1 in 3) and vapes are easy to access. A collective impact approach to increase awareness of the harms of vaping, while building capability to reject vaping and reduce exposure to vaping and vaping products is required.

    The City of Greater Geelong’s Youth Council third report for 2023 highlighted the growing rate of vaping amongst young people and recommended several actions the City could take to address this issue and support young people wanting to seek help for their addiction.  The 2024 Youth Council have reinforced that vaping is an ongoing issue of concern amongst young people in Geelong.

    The Cancer Council Victoria report Prevalence of e-cigarette use among priority groups and by region of Victoria: Findings from the 2018+19 and 2022 Victorian Smoking and Health Surveys, identified the prevalence of vaping has at least doubled in the Western Victoria PHN region. The report noted that daily e-cigarette use was higher amongst those receiving mental health treatment, low SES areas and LGBTIQ+ people highlighting the need for targeted vaping prevention in this region.

    VicHealth’s Influencing Gen Vape 2024 will inform how the BSWVPC target and support cohorts of young people and target areas will be defined by the SEIFA index with the highest disadvantage.

    Consultation has already been undertaken by BHHC with schools, agencies, services and community organisations. Schools identified a need for support from health and government sectors to address the prevalence of vaping and there is an identified need to support student understanding, management of addiction and health implications of vaping.

    The Project

    Vic Health have funded a project for a coalition of local governments and health services across Barwon South West to listen, learn and develop initiatives that address the use of vapes and vaping products by young people aged 12-25.

    The Barwon South West Vaping Prevention Coalition (BSWVPC) will provide a platform for local councils and services to collaborate, share resources and embed evidence-based best practice across the region.

    The BSWVPC, led by the City of Greater Geelong will implement place-based interventions and adopt a region wide approach across six Local Government Areas (LGA’s). All activities implemented as part of this project will be community informed and co-designed with young people aged 12-25 within their respective LGA to achieve the following outcomes:

    • Increase awareness of the harms of vaping among young people and capability to reject vaping,
    • Reduce exposure to vaping and vaping products among young people and
    • Increase community capability to address vaping among young people.

    There are existing mechanisms in place to facilitate consultation and engagement with young people and established networks across the region to coordinate the implementation of these place-based activities. The BSWVPC will provide a platform for partners to work collaboratively and ensure initiatives are implemented utilising best practice evidence and in a way that promotes sustained and embedded change. 

    BATForce has been engaged to support the project in a number of ways:

    • Develop workshop content for place-based workshops
    • Facilitate two training workshops for local program partners
    • Facilitate one Parent/Carer workshop
    • Facilitate one Professional Learning workshop
    • Develop resources, manage landing page for vaping program information and provide social media campaign
    • Provide linkages of vape project outputs to the ‘Community Wellbeing Dashboard’, a curated space owned by community for community and sitting on the BATForce website.

    This project will continue through until the end of 2025. If you want further information about this project or wish to register so you can continue to participate in future consultations, please register your interest – Registration: Vaping Prevention Project 

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    Information and data from the surveys for the vaping project will only be used for the purposes of this project when reported back to Vic Health.

    Program Partners