IJERPH, Vol. 21, Pages 1427: Exploring Youths’ Offers to Use E-Cigarettes in Rural Hawai‘i: A Test Development and Validation Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph21111427

Authors:
Scott K. Okamoto
Andrew M. Subica
Kelsie H. Okamura
Katlyn J. An
Sarah D. Song
Paula Angela Saladino
Adabelle B. Carson
Zarek K. Kon
Sarah Momilani Marshall
Steven Keone Chin
Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula
Ian Pagano
Pallav Pokhrel

The purpose of this study is to describe the development and initial validation of a survey focused on problematic situations involving e-cigarette use by rural Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youths. A 5-phase approach to test development and validation was used. In Phase 1 (Item Generation), survey items were created from a series of focus groups with middle school youths on Hawai‘i Island (N = 69). In Phase 2 (Item Refinement and Selection), situational items were reduced to 40 e-cigarette offer situations that were selected for inclusion in the survey. In Phase 3 (Item Reduction), items were administered to 257 youths from 11 middle, intermediate, or multi-level public or public-charter schools on Hawai‘i Island. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of three factors accounting for 50% of the variance: E-Cigarette Offers from Friends (24%), E-Cigarette Offers from Non-Friends (16%), and Coercive Pressure to Use E-Cigarettes (10%). Hypothesized relationships between offer situations and e-cigarette use were partially confirmed, supporting the construct validity of the survey. This survey helps to fill the scientific and practice gap in measuring ecodevelopmental risk and protection for e-cigarette use and has implications for e-cigarette use prevention with rural, NHPI, and/or Indigenous youth populations.

Source link

Scott K. Okamoto www.mdpi.com