Counseling in Vape Shops: A Survey of Vape Shop Managers in Switzerland

Vaporizers (e-cigarettes) are the most common smoking cessation aids in Switzerland, but we do not know what information customers receive in vape shops. We surveyed vape-shop managers to find out what recommendations they make to their customers. An interdisciplinary group developed the questionnai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-10, Vol.18 (20), p.10861
Main Authors: Joss, Sandra, Moser, Anna, Jakob, Julian, Tal, Kali, Etter, Jean-François, Selby, Kevin, Schoeni, Anna, Poirson, Philippe, Auer, Reto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cardiovascular disease
Cigarette smoking
Cigarettes
Customers
Demography
Drug addiction
Drug dependence
Electronic cigarettes
Employees
Health care
Medical personnel
Nicotine
Physicians
Polls & surveys
Professionals
Questionnaires
Smoking
Smoking cessation
Tobacco
Vaping
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Summary:Vaporizers (e-cigarettes) are the most common smoking cessation aids in Switzerland, but we do not know what information customers receive in vape shops. We surveyed vape-shop managers to find out what recommendations they make to their customers. An interdisciplinary group developed the questionnaire. Respondents self-reported their smoking history, demographics, and the recommendations they thought they would give to hypothetical customers in clinical vignettes. We also queried if they collaborated with health care professionals. Of those contacted, 53.8% (70/130) of vape-shop managers responded, and 52.3% (68/130) were included in the final analysis. Managers were mostly male and ex-smokers who switched to vaporizers; 60.3% would encourage a hypothetical smoker with high nicotine dependence to start with the highest possible nicotine concentration when switching to vaporizers. For this smoker, 36.9% would recommend high (≥15 mg/mL), 32.3% medium (6–14 mg/mL), and 3.1% low (1–5 mg/mL) nicotine concentrations. The rest adapted their recommendations to fit the customer or device; 76.5% reported that physicians referred customers to them, and 78.8% would attend a course given by experts in the field of vaporizers and smoking cessation. Vape-shop managers varied widely in the recommendations they gave customers. Most reported ongoing collaboration with health care professionals and were interested in improving their counselling skills through training.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph182010861