The Societal Impact Project

“We all thought it was interesting to work on vaping because it intersects with the human side of research.” The group focused on helping young people who are already vaping to quit. “We see kids as young as 12 years old vape in our environment. Similar to smoking, vaping can cause developmental issues, and we hope to contribute to or stimulate further research to help kids and teenagers quit vaping.” The students research the immediate short-term medical consequences of vaping, as “no long-term research is yet available. Hopefully, our project can help to tackle that research deficit.” To communicate their findings, an Instagram account @off_the_puff was made to connect with younger people.

Furthermore, the group delved into the literature on the effects of vaping such as DNA damage, toxic chemicals and nicotine poisoning. They also conducted interviews with their peers and collected information on why people actually start vaping. “At our age, we tend to feel invincible. The threshold to start vaping is lowered by the use of colours and flavours in vape devices.”

According to the group, the dangers of vaping are clear. “Vaping is more addictive than smoking because of the chemicals in the fluids. These chemicals also include heavy metals which are heated up by a coil. This process is carcinogenic and increases the risk of lung cancer.

To support their work, the group is coached by Prof. Dr. Gera Nagelhout, Professor at the Department of Health Promotion. “Prof. Nagelhout reached out to medical doctors, researchers, and specialists in the field of vaping, who we then interviewed to gain more insight.”

Prof. Nagelhout: “I’ve coached the Societal Impact project for several years now. Each group requires a different approach, some need coaching on collaboration, while others benefit from my expertise in health and well-being. My own research focus lies in projects with a societal impact, so this is fun for me to do. Each year, students surprise me by coming up with creative solutions for wicked problems.” According to Prof. Nagelhout, the Societal Impact Project is based on the Self-Determination Theory. “There are three basic psychological needs for students to stay motivated: autonomy, competence and relatedness. This project tries to strike a balance between all three.”

The group of students (Nathasya Schoenmakers, Jasper Boekhoudt, Pradyumna Krishna, Isse Vermaas en Kruthagnya Shankar) hope to continue their work when the official one-year period of their project ends. “It’s a glimpse into a possible future research career plus the project organises several workshops on speaking in public and presentation skills. Hopefully, we can broaden our research scope to include the use of tobacco and cannabis among younger people.”