Life Ed. NSW

Life Ed. now include vaping and e-cigarettes in their high school drug and alcohol program Reality Now, closing the gap between student perceptions and reality.

Scaling Reality Now and Vaping Resources

The issue

At a time when smoking rates are the lowest in Australia’s history, there has been a significant rise in e-cigarette use and vaping rates. And while some health professionals argue that e-cigarettes can help manage nicotine addiction, others argue that the long-term health effects of the products are yet to emerge.

The Generation Vape Research Project (2022) found that teenagers aged 14-17 have easy access to illegal, flavoured, disposable vaping products that contain nicotine and that disposable vapes often contain very high concentrations of nicotine, even those claiming to be nicotine-free. The odds of becoming a smoker is more than three times higher for never-smokers who vape than for never-smokers who don’t vape.

The project

With support from the nib foundation since 2021, Life Ed. NSW’s Reality Now is Australia’s largest social norms-based vaping program for secondary students, focusing on preventative education. Developed by Life Ed NSW (LENSW), at the heart of the approach is a live, interactive, anonymous survey tool capturing student perceptions of their classmates’ behaviours and attitudes about using nicotine. Using the purpose-built survey, real-time reporting, and comprehensive education practices, LE NSW works with schools to equip young people with skills to avoid drug-related harms.

They are now supporting Life Ed. in other states to roll the program out nationally and establish a sustainable offering to schools. Life Ed South Australia (LE SA) has successfully launched the Reality Now program. Taking a ‘whole school immersion’ approach, LE NSW has created a suite of online vaping resources for parents, opens in a new tab and lesson plans for teachers, opens in a new tab to build their knowledge and confidence in discussing vaping with students to build further awareness of the negative impacts of vaping.

The impact

Reality Now closes the gap between perception and reality about the usage of e-cigarettes by young people, with questions designed to draw comparisons to their results compared to national norms.

LENSW and LESA aim to reduce rates of vaping uptake and experimentation. Through the preventative education strategy they aim to challenge young people's perceptions of vaping and create awareness about its harmful impacts on bodies and lungs.

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Past project

The use of e-cigarettes is increasing among young people. Research has shown of those aged 18–24, 64% of current smokers and 20% of non-smokers have tried e-cigarettes compared to 49% and 13.6% in 2016. For Aussie adolescents between 12-17 years old, 14% have tried e-cigarettes, with 32% of these students admitting to vaping in the last month

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has also found that e-cigarette use by Australians aged 14 or older more than doubled between 2016 and 2019.

Reality Now is a drug and alcohol program delivered in secondary schools, using an interactive survey tool designed to explore students' existing attitudes, perceptions and behaviours about alcohol and drug use and dispel myths surrounding their peers' use.

nib foundation proudly supported the role out of the Reality Now program in secondary schools across NSW in 2020 and 2021. We were delighted to continue our partnership through supporting Life Ed. in 2022 to broaden the health subjects covered in their current Reality Now program to include Vaping and e-cigarettes, reaching over 7,300 secondary school students in NSW.

The evidence-based approach identifies and dispels perceptions around the uptake of e-cigarettes and discusses their effects on the body, both immediate and long-term. In addition, students are educated on the laws surrounding vaping, including who can legally purchase them and marketing.

By extending the Reality Now program to include vaping, young people are now better supported to make more informed, safer and healthier choices. Reality Now hopes to break down the myths that ‘'all young people are vaping" through the delivery of tailored resources to students, parents and teachers, building their understanding and awareness of e-cigarette use.  

Past project

Despite drug misuse and abuse declining amongst younger Australians, high levels of risky alcohol consumption remain in this demographic, and together drug and alcohol harm represent a significant health risk. Student perceptions of, attitudes towards and the behaviour of their peers relating to alcohol and drug use can often be varied and far from reality, which is why it’s important to continue to support and educate our young people around safe choices and decision making.

Reality Now is a drug and alcohol program delivered in secondary schools that uses an interactive survey tool designed to explore students’ existing attitudes, perceptions and behaviours about alcohol and drug use, and dispel myths surrounding their peers’ drug and alcohol use.

With our funding support, Life Education NSW will use their strong connections with schools and expertise in drug and alcohol education to roll out the Reality Now program to secondary schools across NSW.

The program will reach 10,000 students, who will get a better understanding of the rates of drug and alcohol use amongst their peers through real time anonymous survey results as well as receive educational resources to help them make better choices about future alcohol and drug use.

The Reality Now program helps to develop awareness, knowledge and confidence that secondary students need to make more informed, safer and healthier choices relating to alcohol and other drugs. The survey also provides schools an opportunity to gather anonymous data about their students so they can plan more meaningful and effective interventions as part of their curriculum.