TY - JOUR
T1 - Answering questions about electronic cigarettes using a multidisciplinary model
AU - Breland, Alison
AU - Balster, Robert L.
AU - Cobb, Caroline
AU - Fagan, Pebbles
AU - Foulds, Jonathan
AU - Koch, J. Randy
AU - Lipato, Thokozeni
AU - Saliba, Najat
AU - Shihadeh, Alan
AU - Sun, Shumei
AU - Eissenberg, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are a relatively new class of tobacco products and a subject of much debate for scientists and policymakers worldwide. Objective data that address the ECIG risk- benefit ratio for individual and public health are needed, and addressing this need requires a multidisciplinary approach that spans several areas of psychology as well as chemistry, toxicant inhalation, and physiology. This multidisciplinary approach would benefit from methods that are reliable, valid, and swift. For this reason, we formed a multidisciplinary team to develop methods that could answer questions about ECIGs and other potential modified risk tobacco products. Our team includes scientists with expertise in psychology (clinical, community, and experimental) and other disciplines, including aerosol research, analytical chemistry, biostatistics, engineering, internal medicine, and public health. The psychologists on our team keep other members focused on factors that influence individual behavior, and other team members keep the psychologists aware of other issues, such as product design. Critically, all team members are willing to extend their interests beyond the boundaries of their discipline to collaborate effectively with the shared goal of producing therigorous science needed to inform empirically based tobacco policy. In addition, our trainees gain valuable knowledge from these collaborations and learn that other disciplines are accessible, exciting, and can enhance their own research. Multidisciplinary work presents challenges: learning other scientists' languages and staying focused on our core mission. Overall, our multidisciplinary team has led to several major findings that inform the scientific, regulatory, and public health communities about ECIGs and their effects.
AB - Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are a relatively new class of tobacco products and a subject of much debate for scientists and policymakers worldwide. Objective data that address the ECIG risk- benefit ratio for individual and public health are needed, and addressing this need requires a multidisciplinary approach that spans several areas of psychology as well as chemistry, toxicant inhalation, and physiology. This multidisciplinary approach would benefit from methods that are reliable, valid, and swift. For this reason, we formed a multidisciplinary team to develop methods that could answer questions about ECIGs and other potential modified risk tobacco products. Our team includes scientists with expertise in psychology (clinical, community, and experimental) and other disciplines, including aerosol research, analytical chemistry, biostatistics, engineering, internal medicine, and public health. The psychologists on our team keep other members focused on factors that influence individual behavior, and other team members keep the psychologists aware of other issues, such as product design. Critically, all team members are willing to extend their interests beyond the boundaries of their discipline to collaborate effectively with the shared goal of producing therigorous science needed to inform empirically based tobacco policy. In addition, our trainees gain valuable knowledge from these collaborations and learn that other disciplines are accessible, exciting, and can enhance their own research. Multidisciplinary work presents challenges: learning other scientists' languages and staying focused on our core mission. Overall, our multidisciplinary team has led to several major findings that inform the scientific, regulatory, and public health communities about ECIGs and their effects.
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U2 - 10.1037/amp0000426
DO - 10.1037/amp0000426
M3 - Article
C2 - 30945898
AN - SCOPUS:85063930252
SN - 0003-066X
VL - 74
SP - 368
EP - 379
JO - American Psychologist
JF - American Psychologist
IS - 3
ER -