Essay Sample on E-Cigarettes: Clinical Psychologists Address Growing Use Among Y/A

Introduction

Clinical psychology has played a critical part in society in promoting mental and behavioral health care within families and societies. One of the issues that clinical psychologists are trying to address is the increasing use of e-cigarettes among young and adults. E-cigarettes, also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), vaping-pens, vapes, e-cigs, or mods, were invented mainly to reduce smoking of cigarettes among youths and young adults as a way of managing tobacco-related diseases. E-cigarettes have low nicotine content compared to conventional cigarettes. However, discussions as to whether they are safe and contribute to the reduction in the actual cigarette smoking have been heightening in recent decades. Recent research by Bhatta & Glantz (2020) found an association between e-cigarette use and respiratory diseases. NBC News reported the results of the research. This analysis critiques the news article in terms of its accuracy in reporting the results of the study. Although the news report excluded some critical data, it accurately outlined the conclusions of the study.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In a news article with the title, E-cigarettes Linked to Lungs Problems, First Long-Term Study Finds, NBC News reported that news research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine had found a link between long-term use of e-cigarettes, and chronic lung diseases. Without mentioning the names of the researchers or the title of the research itself, the news article reported that 32,000 adults that exhibited no signs of lung disease when the study began took part in a longitudinal study between 2013 and 2016 (Edwards, 2019). According to the report, the study found that, when compared to nonusers, users of e-cigarettes were 30% more exposed to developing chronic lung diseases (Edwards, 2019). It also showed that participants who smoked combustible cigarettes were at a higher were more exposed to chronic lung diseases compared to those who used only e-cigarettes (Edwards, 2019). However, those who used e-cigarettes were also highly likely to use combustible tobacco. As part of their new sources, NBC News interviewed one of the research authors, Stanton Glantz.

Although the news article was successful in accurately stating and interpreting the research conclusions, it failed to outline some of the conventions that the search authors used. The research concluded that e-cigarette exhibit significant risk for respiratory diseases. It also deduced that the combined use of e-cigarettes and combustible tobacco increases the risk of acquiring respiratory diseases than using either of the products alone. As evident in the previous paragraph, the news article accurately interpreted this conclusion. Respiratory diseases can be referred to as lung diseases.

However, some conventions were lacking, inaccurate, or insufficient. For instance, it provided incomplete and, to some extent, inaccurate background information relative to the original research article. While the research begun by introducing the issue stating why addressing it is necessary, followed by a comprehensive research method, the news article goes straight to the conclusions of the study, providing scanty information on research background. It only states the period within which the study was carried out and the number of participants who took part in the survey. While a total of 32,320 people aged 18 and above were involved in the study (Bhatta & Glantz, 2020), the news article reports that there were 32,000 adult participants (Edwards, 2019). Thus, although the news article accurately identified the research subjects, it imprecisely quantified them. Additionally, it failed to identify the research methods applied by in study and did not present any statistics to back up the conclusions. It does not provide the original citation of the research article but a link that directs the reader to the article.

The news article incorporated other research to critique the research conclusions. One of the studies that it incorporates is a research done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which found a complex trend among youths who vape. As reported in the news article, youths who vape are also highly likely to use marijuana, nicotine, and other substances (Edwards, 2019). It also reported that, according to the research, the number of youths who vape has doubled from 2017 (Edwards, 2019). This information was relevant in conveying the intensity of the problem and how it will affect the future population. As the number of youths who vape keeps increasing, many future adults are at risk of being active smokers. As such, exposure to lung diseases will increase drastically if the rate of vaping is not constrained. Once again, the news article did not cite the incorporated research articles but provided links.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that the news article accurately discussed the conclusions of the study. Despite the failure of the news article to provide comprehensive information, it did not provide a biased report about the original research article. All the information that the news article provided is consistent with the information in the original research article. The efforts of the news reporters to collect more information from one of the authors of the original research article and reporting the responses in verbatim were also important in limiting the risk of being bias. To further limit balance and enhance validity, the news reporters could have incorporated statistics and data from the as used in the research article and provided a more comprehensive background of the research. It could also have accurately cited the research article and other incorporated sources.

References

Bhatta, D. N., & Glantz, S. A. (2020). Association of e-cigarette use with respiratory disease among adults: A longitudinal analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 58(2), 182-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.07.028

Edwards, E. (2019, December 16). The first long-term study on vaping is here. Here's how e-cigs hurt your health. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/vaping/e-cigarettes-linked-lung-problems-first-long-term-study-vaping-n1101641