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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Health Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1348158

Content Analysis of Conversations on Reddit: Reactions to FDA's ENDS Prioritized Enforcement Policy

Provisionally accepted
Jamie E. Guillory Jamie E. Guillory 1*Sarah Trigger Sarah Trigger 2Jenna Brophy Jenna Brophy 3Ashley Ross Ashley Ross 2Stephanie Lane Stephanie Lane 3Annice Kim Annice Kim 3James Nonnemaker James Nonnemaker 3Sherry T. Liu Sherry T. Liu 2Kimberly Snyder Kimberly Snyder 2Janine Delahanty Janine Delahanty 2
  • 1 RTI International (Ireland), Dublin, Ireland
  • 2 Center for Tobacco Products, United States Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
  • 3 RTI International, Durham, North Carolina, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: On January 2, 2020, the FDA announced a policy focused in part on prioritizing enforcement of flavored (other than tobacco-or menthol-flavored) cartridge-based electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) without premarket authorization. Methods: We used a query to identify Reddit conversations relevant to the policy from January 2 to May 6, 2020. Our sample included 576 posts (46 posts and 530 accompanying comments). Two analysts coded posts for mentions of use behaviors (e.g., switching, quitting), purchasing behaviors (e.g., purchasing from retailer new to the user), and flavored products. We summarized frequencies of coded data and provided illustrative quotes. Results: Only 21.0% (121/576) of posts mentioned use behavior. Switching behavior was the most common use behavior mentioned (50.4%, 61/121). Most switching behavior posts focused on ENDSrelated switching (91.8%, 56/61). The most common ENDS-related switching behaviors mentioned were switching to an open tank (45.9%, 28/61) or device with refillable pods/cartridges (44.3%, 27/61); 8.2% (5/61) mentioned switching to disposables. Just 15.5% (89/576) of posts mentioned purchasing behavior, with the most common being purchasing from a retailer new to the user (32.6%, 29/89). Only 6.8% (39/576) of posts mentioned specific flavors. Conclusions: Reddit posts about the policy commonly discussed switching to non-cartridge-based ENDS products, such as open tank systems or disposable devices, and purchasing products from different online sources that were still selling these products. Findings suggest that publicly available Reddit data can complement data from traditional sources (e.g., surveys, sales) to understand potential unintended consequences associated with policies by exploring the public's reactions.

    Keywords: Electronic nicotine delivery systems, policy, Social Media, Tobacco, flavored tobacco, Public Policy

    Received: 01 Dec 2023; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guillory, Trigger, Brophy, Ross, Lane, Kim, Nonnemaker, Liu, Snyder and Delahanty. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jamie E. Guillory, RTI International (Ireland), Dublin, Ireland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.