Episodic future thinking as an intervention for dependent e-cigarette users

There has been an alarming increase in e-cigarette use and dependence among young people, many of whom would like to quit using e-cigarettes but are finding it difficult to do so. Impulsivity is associated with drug taking across many different types of drugs including nicotine. In prior research with cigarette smokers, cognitive interventions designed to reduce impulsivity, such as Episodic Future Thinking (EFT), have been shown to reduce cigarette demand and self-administration. The aim of the present study was to test if a brief EFT intervention decreases nicotine craving, impulsivity, and smoking choice among daily young adult e-cigarette users. Participants (N = 33; M = 21 years of age; 63.6% female; M = 13 e-cig uses per day) attended three within-subjects experimental sessions administered via Zoom. After a baseline acclimation session, participants attended two experimental sessions in counterbalanced order: 1) EFT in which they pre-experienced and described positive future events and 2) A control intervention in which they described their experiences watching three short videos. Measures of craving, mood, and delay discounting across three commodities: money, e-cigarette products, and food were completed before and after the manipulations. Within-subjects repeated measures ANOVAs revealed decreases in monetary delay discounting and craving in response to EFT. At the end of each session, participants also took part in a 40-minute vaping vs. money choice task. While survival analyses were not significant, 30.3% of participants chose to smoke after the EFT condition compared to 39.4% after the control condition. Additional research is needed to support the efficacy of EFT as a brief intervention for helping e-cigarette users increase their ability to abstain.