Using Social networks to design interventions to prevent and treat tobacco use in the Appalachian LGBT population

Social network analysis applied to health behaviors is an innovative technique that is quickly becoming a major focus of health systems research. I plan to recruit and survey via internet social networking sites, which is also an emerging technology and methodology that shows promise in achieving more representative sampling of populations considered “hidden” or hard-to-reach by traditional research methods. (Dr. Jeff Jones at the University of Kentucky is completing such a study surveying men who have sex with men [MSM] across the state. Advisors Riggle and Rostosky used Facebook to recruit participants for the research in their latest book22. Dr. Jose Bauermeister at the University of Michigan is also running several studies using this methodology in an urban setting. ) These methods can also inform the feasibility of including other innovative techniques such as text-message reporting in real time for intervention studies. Additionally, the focus on rural Appalachian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) is new and greatly needed, as even the sparse existing literature on LGBT people in the South or Appalachian region tend to recruit participants from relatively urban centers.