Tuesday, February 3, 2026 2/3/2026

Dime la Verdad (Tell me the truth)

Award Number: R01MD018730
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/10/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2029

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Dime la Verdad (Tell me the truth) - Public understanding of respiratory virus transmission and prevention is shaped by a wide range of information sources, including social media. As social media platforms play an increasingly central role in shaping health communication, it is critically important to define best practices to disseminate reliable information online. This is especially important when considering the lives of susceptible groups who may not have easy access to culturally relevant and language-concordant reputable sources. Although access to health care remains a significant barrier, access to reliable health messaging is a significant predictor of immunization against respiratory viruses. Yet, little is known about community-level differences in how narratives about respiratory virus protection emerge, how they are shared, and how they ultimately affect decision-making in favor of proven infection prevention strategies. Social media posts that include personal narratives are effective at reliably communicating health recommendations, especially those that come from a trusted peer. Therefore, communication strategies that leverage neighborhood and interpersonal relationships can prove extremely effective at health communication. Community health workers are trusted community members who serve as links between health/social services and a defined region to improve access to health services and quality of service delivery. Community health workers can diffuse reliable information in the neighborhoods they serve and can be essential to address concerns about health recommendations, increase trust, and improve health outcomes; they have been at the forefront of addressing lower rates of testing for respiratory viruses and inform decision-making to promote evidence-based immunization practices in communities with unmet health and social needs. Community health workers are uniquely positioned as trusted messengers to disseminate reliable information through strategic use of social media and principles of health communication. Dime La Verdad (Tell me the truth) is an innovative social media capacity-building program based on theoretical frameworks related to health communication that empowers community health workers to disseminate reliable information about respiratory virus protection strategies through the use of personal narratives on social media. The proposed work will use a rigorous stepped wedge design to 1) deliver a scalable program of science communicators using an adapted curriculum grounded in principles of health communication, 2) evaluate how diffusion of health messaging is perceived on social media, and 3) discern how use of personal narratives to enhance science communication can encourage informed decision-making to promote evidence-based immunization practices and improve health outcomes.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $636,275 )
2026	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	5801 S ELLIS AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60637	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	3	12/11/2025	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$636,275
														Subtotal = $636,275

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = -$696,702 )
2025	2024	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	2	4/14/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$696,702
2025	2024	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	4/3/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = -$696,702

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $637,244 )
2024	2024	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	2/9/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$591,257
2024	2024	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	2	5/29/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$45,987
2024	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	1	2/15/2024	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $637,244

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $702,357 )
2023	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	6/28/2023	NEW	$702,357
														Subtotal = $702,357

Grand Total All Awards = $1,279,174

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Dime la Verdad (Tell me the truth)

Award Number: R01MD018730

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/10/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2029

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