Awareness and use of a free vapes programme for smoking cessation in England: findings from the 2024 ITC 4 Country Smoking and Vaping Survey
9 affiliations
- 1NIHR Policy Research Unit in Addictions, Department of Addictions, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
- 2Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
- 3Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Brighton and University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
- 4European Union Drugs Agency, Lisbon, Portugal
- 5Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Centre, University of Buffalo, New York, USA
- 6Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON Canada
- 7School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON Canada
- 8Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON Canada
- 9Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON Canada
Abstract
Background: England’s ‘Swap to Stop’ programme provides local authorities with free vape starter kits for adults who smoke. This study aimed to evaluate the reach, uptake, and correlates of engagement with Swap to Stop within the first year after the start of implementation.
Methods: Our sample were adults (n = 2009) who currently smoke or recently stopped smoking from the England arm of the 2024 International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey. We calculated weighted proportions for Swap to Stop awareness, offer, interest, and participation, and reasons for no interest/participation. We performed weighted binary logistic regressions to explore associations between sociodemographics, health, smoking cessation attempts, and vaping status and Swap to Stop awareness, offer, and interest/participation, and between interest/participation and vaping harm perceptions.
Results: Overall, 11.0% had heard of Swap to Stop, of whom 43.6% were offered to take part. Among those offered, 63.2% had participated; among those not offered, 55.1% were interested. The most common reasons for no interest/participation were not being interested in vapes (60.7%) and believing them to be unsafe (57.5%) or no less harmful than smoking (56.6%). Awareness was higher among non-White than White participants (AOR = 1.86), those with high (AOR = 1.78) and medium (AOR = 1.89) than lower incomes, and those who did than did not currently vape (AOR = 3.44), and lower among women than men (AOR = 0.57) and those aged ≥ 40 than ≤ 24 years (AOR = 0.28) and 25–39 years (AOR = 0.34). Offer of participation was also lower among those aged ≥ 40 years (AOR = 0.06 vs. ≤24 years, AOR = 0.21 vs. 25–39 years). Interest/participation was higher among people with than without prior smoking cessation attempts (AOR = 2.52) and among people who were than were not currently vaping (AOR = 4.50), and lower among women than men (AOR = 0.32). Interest/participation was associated with perceiving vaping as less harmful than smoking (AOR = 2.61).
Conclusion: Within its first year, across England, awareness of Swap to Stop was limited, though uptake and interest in the programme were high. Awareness may have been higher in areas that adopted the programme early and may increase with maturation. Targeted outreach and communication on the relative harms of vaping is key to maximising public health impact.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0.
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BibTeX
@article{skumlien2026awareness,
title = {{Awareness and use of a free vapes programme for smoking cessation in England: findings from the 2024 ITC 4 Country Smoking and Vaping Survey}},
author = {Martine Skumlien and Katherine A East and Erikas Simonavičius and Andrew Hyland and Geoffrey T Fong and Grace Li and Anne C K Quah and Christian Boudreau and Ann McNeill and Leonie Brose},
journal = {BMC Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Awareness and use of a free vapes programme for smoking cessation in England: findings from the 2024 ITC 4 Country Smoking and Vaping Survey
AU - Martine Skumlien
AU - Katherine A East
AU - Erikas Simonavičius
AU - Andrew Hyland
AU - Geoffrey T Fong
AU - Grace Li
AU - Anne C K Quah
AU - Christian Boudreau
AU - Ann McNeill
AU - Leonie Brose
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - BMC Public Health
DO - 10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0
AB - Background: England’s ‘Swap to Stop’ programme provides local authorities with free vape starter kits for adults who smoke. This study aimed to evaluate the reach, uptake, and correlates of engagement with Swap to Stop within the first year after the start of implementation. Methods: Our sample were adults (n = 2009) who currently smoke or recently stopped smoking from the England arm of the 2024 International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey. We calculated weighted proportions for Swap to Stop awareness, offer, interest, and participation, and reasons for no interest/participation. We performed weighted binary logistic regressions to explore associations between sociodemographics, health, smoking cessation attempts, and vaping status and Swap to Stop awareness, offer, and interest/participation, and between interest/participation and vaping harm perceptions. Results: Overall, 11.0% had heard of Swap to Stop, of whom 43.6% were offered to take part. Among those offered, 63.2% had participated; among those not offered, 55.1% were interested. The most common reasons for no interest/participation were not being interested in vapes (60.7%) and believing them to be unsafe (57.5%) or no less harmful than smoking (56.6%). Awareness was higher among non-White than White participants (AOR = 1.86), those with high (AOR = 1.78) and medium (AOR = 1.89) than lower incomes, and those who did than did not currently vape (AOR = 3.44), and lower among women than men (AOR = 0.57) and those aged ≥ 40 than ≤ 24 years (AOR = 0.28) and 25–39 years (AOR = 0.34). Offer of participation was also lower among those aged ≥ 40 years (AOR = 0.06 vs. ≤24 years, AOR = 0.21 vs. 25–39 years). Interest/participation was higher among people with than without prior smoking cessation attempts (AOR = 2.52) and among people who were than were not currently vaping (AOR = 4.50), and lower among women than men (AOR = 0.32). Interest/participation was associated with perceiving vaping as less harmful than smoking (AOR = 2.61). Conclusion: Within its first year, across England, awareness of Swap to Stop was limited, though uptake and interest in the programme were high. Awareness may have been higher in areas that adopted the programme early and may increase with maturation. Targeted outreach and communication on the relative harms of vaping is key to maximising public health impact. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28769-0.
SN - 1471-2458
ER -