If you're using the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout as part of an effort to quit smoking, join Drs. J. Taylor Hays and David Midthun on Friday, Nov. 17, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. CST, for a Facebook Live conversation to discuss:

Learn more about:

• Lung cancer screening
• Tobacco dependence treatments
• Smoking cessation
• A study on the effectiveness of increased communication in helping smokers quit

"An important moment in a smoker's life - they are looking at things that they can do to proactively affect their health," says Dr. Midthun, a pulmonologist who is among the Mayo Clinic doctors studying how communication helps smokers become an ex.

"So the goal of the study would be to find a better method of tobacco cessation," adds Dr. Midthun.

"We'll be comparing three different groups," explains Dr. Hays, director of the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center. "One group will receive what we call 'usual care.' They'll be receiving a brief message - advice to quit."

Dr. Hays says a second group will also get web help and text messages. A third group will see the same tech support and receive face-to-face counseling.

The doctors say the goal is to see which method creates the most ex-smokers.

"And what we want to know is could we take this program to other lung cancer screening programs and transplant it there," says Dr. Hays.

To learn more about the study, including how to enroll in it, visit becomeanex.org.