title: Online social networks and smoking cessation: a scientific research agenda.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Smoking remains one of the most pressing public health problems in the United States and internationally. The concurrent evolution of the Internet, social network science, and online communities offers a potential target for high-yield interventions capable of shifting population-level smoking rates and substantially improving public health.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to convene leading practitioners in relevant disciplines to develop the core of a strategic research agenda on online social networks and their use for smoking cessation, with implications for other health behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a 100-person, 2-day, multidisciplinary workshop in Washington, DC, USA. Participants worked in small groups to formulate research questions that could move the field forward. Discussions and resulting questions were synthesized by the workshop planning committee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We considered 34 questions in four categories (advancing theory, understanding fundamental mechanisms, intervention approaches, and evaluation) to be the most pressing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online social networks might facilitate smoking cessation in several ways. Identifying new theories, translating these into functional interventions, and evaluating the results will require a concerted transdisciplinary effort. This report presents a series of research questions to assist researchers, developers, and funders in the process of efficiently moving this field forward.
authors.affiliation: Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies, American Legacy Foundation, Washington, DC 20036, USA. ncobb@legacyforhealth.org
authors.forename: Nathan K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Cobb
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: M Justin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Byron
authors.forename: Raymond S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Niaura
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Abrams
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011634:Public Health; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States