‘What about vaping?’ Exploring the facilitators and barriers experienced by health professionals in offering vaping cessation support − a scoping review

Lincan Caroline Tan; Larisa Ariadne Justine Barnes; Jo Longman; Megan Passey

doi:10.1071/PU24013

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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‘What about vaping?’ Exploring the facilitators and barriers experienced by health professionals in offering vaping cessation support − a scoping review

Lincan Caroline Tan ^A , Larisa Ariadne Justine Barnes ^B ^C ^* , Jo Longman ^B ^C and Megan Passey ^B ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A The University of Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Science Rd, Camperdown, NSW 2020, Australia.

^B The Daffodil Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Level 5, 1 King St, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia.

^C University Centre for Rural Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, 61 Uralba St, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: larisa.barnes@sydney.edu.au

Public Health Research and Practice 35, PU24013 https://doi.org/10.1071/PU24013

Submitted: 4 June 2024 Accepted: 30 September 2024 Published: 9 May 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Sax Institute. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Objectives and importance of study

To summarise current evidence on the facilitators and barriers to offering vaping cessation support from the perspective of health professionals (HPs) with client-facing roles.

Study type

A scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology.

Methods

Six databases were searched for relevant peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2003 and 2024. All articles were screened by two reviewers independently, based on pre-specified eligibility criteria. Data extraction and analyses were informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

Results

A total of 10,992 articles were screened; 21 publications met the inclusion criteria. Data extracted were mapped to the TDF (12 of the 14 domains were used). Barriers were more commonly reported than facilitators and included lack of knowledge, lack of training and competing priorities; the most commonly reported facilitators were HPs’ sense of responsibility and willingness to provide e-cigarette cessation support. Most of the studies included were from the US and employed quantitative surveys. Most of the studies screened focused on the utility of e-cigarettes as cessation aids for combustible tobacco smoking, highlighting a gap in the interventional evidence on e-cigarette cessation.

Conclusions

More primary qualitative studies, including in Australia, are needed to understand the complexities of offering vaping cessation support. Although a range of HPs were represented in the review, further studies could analyse allied HPs’ views separately from medical professionals’ views.

Keywords: barriers, cessation support, e-cigarettes, health professionals, public health, quitting, scoping review, Theoretical Domains Framework, vaping.

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