Vaping is an emerging public health issue for young Australians, with the numbers of young people (aged 14-24) vaping more than doubling from 2019 to 2022-23.
In a two-day competition, BETA and the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Behaviour Change, challenged 30 Master of Applied Psychology students to come up with an innovative and behaviourally informed solution to help young people quit vaping.
At the start of the competition, 6 teams received a crash course on applying behavioural insights in public policy. Teams then pitched their ideas to a panel of expert judges from BETA, Quit Victoria and the University of Melbourne.
The creative presentations impressed the judges, with teams proposing a range of solutions including social media campaigns and new apps. All pitches outlined a rigorous approach to understanding the problem behaviour, designing a solution and testing their interventions.
The judges assessed teams based on the creativity of their approach, use of behavioural science principles, as well as feasibility and real-world impact. The winning pitch proposed an intervention to encourage young people to participate in a “75 Breathe Clean Challenge”. The intervention is inspired by similar fitness challenges and invites people to commit to 75 days of activities to break the habitual cycle of vaping and frames quitting as a personal achievement.
The team was presented their idea to BETA and policy teams in the Australian Public Service.
The competition was a great opportunity for BETA and APS colleagues to engage with academia and develop the next generation of behavioural practitioners. The challenge was well received by students, who appreciated the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice and tackle important problems with their peers.
