Caponnetto, Pasquale
Casu, Mirko
Crane, David
Ross, Louise
Quattropani, Maria Catena
Polosa, Riccardo
Article History
Received: 12 May 2023
Accepted: 6 November 2023
First Online: 10 November 2023
Declarations
:
: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants were recruited voluntarily, informed consents were received online before respondents answered the questionnaire, and data confidentiality was ensured according to the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The study was approved by the Internal Ethic Review Board of Psychology Research – IERB on the 7th of September 2021 (Prot. n° Ierb-Edunict-2021.07.19/3) and authorized by the Ethics Committee, having the project complied with all the indications foreseen by the guidelines of the AIP (Italian Association of Psychology) and those of this Ethics Board. Written consent was obtained from participants and confidentiality and anonymity were assured.
: Not applicable.
: RP is a full-time employee of the University of Catania, Italy. In relation to his work in the area of tobacco control and respiratory diseases, RP has received lecture fees and research funding from Pfizer, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, CV Therapeutics, NeuroSearch A/S, Sandoz, MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Duska Therapeutics, and Forest Laboratories. He has also served as a consultant for Pfizer, Inc., Global Health Alliance for treatment of tobacco dependence, CV Therapeutics, NeuroSearch A/S, Boehringer Ingelheim, Duska Therapeutics, Forest Laboratories, ECITA (Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, in the United Kingdom), Health Diplomat (consulting company that delivers solutions to global health problems with special emphasis on harm minimization), and Pharmacielo. RP was awarded an Investigator-Initiated Study award program established by Philip Morris International in 2017, but subsequently resigned from the role of Principal Investigator in 2018, before the trial began. Lecture fees from a number of European EC industry and trade associations (including Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la VAPE in France and Federazione Italiana Esercenti Svapo Elettronico in Italy) were directly donated to vaper advocacy no-profit organizations. RP is the Founder of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction at the University of Catania (CoEHAR), which has received a grant from Foundation for a Smoke Free World to develop and carry out eight research projects. RP is also currently involved in the following pro bono activities: scientific advisor for LIAF, Lega Italiana Anti Fumo (Italian acronym for Italian Anti Smoking League) and Chair of the European Technical Committee for standardization on Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes (CEN/TC 437; WG4). PC is paid by the University of Catania as an external part-time researcher and adjunct professor of clinical, addiction, and general psychology. He has been affiliated to the CoEHAR since December 2019 in a pro bono role. He is coauthor of a protocol paper supported by an Investigator-Initiated Study award program established by Philip Morris International in 2017. The other authors have no conflict of interests to declare.