Children and young people from across Lincolnshire aged 11-19 are being asked to give their views on e-cigarettes and smoking in the first ever county-wide survey on this issue.
The research, led by Social Change UK, a Social Research and Campaign Company based in Lincoln will uncover current attitudes and behaviours to smoking and ‘vaping’ – the term widely used by young people experimenting with e-cigarettes.
11 secondary schools across the county have agreed to take part, which will result in over 3000 young people giving their views. An online survey has also been launched and will be widely promoted across youth groups and via social media.
Kelly Evans, Director at Social Change UK said “National figures indicate that the number of young people taking up smoking is decreasing which is great news but the age at which many do start is still 12 years old. We want to understand how many young people are still taking up smoking in Lincolnshire and understand the current picture on e-cigarette use as it is not known yet how many young people in the county are trying and buying these products. With little known about the long term effects of e-cigarettes and caution being aired by the World Health Organisation (WHO) it is not something we want to see young people experimenting with”.
The link to the online survey can be found here: www.surveymonkey.com/s/LincolnshireSmoking.
The deadline for responses is the 27th March 2015