Friday, December 5, 2025 12/5/2025

Dime la VerDAD (Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate)

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: 09/15/2024

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Dime la VerDAD (Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate) - Project Summary/Abstract Social media has accelerated the spread of vaccine misinformation leading to decreased immunization rates and increased preventable deaths in the US and globally. The health impact of misinformation is particularly critical to understand and address when considering the lives of minoritized racial and ethnic groups who are often the target of misinformation campaigns or who may not have easy access to culturally relevant and language-concordant reputable sources. Although access to vaccines remains a significant barrier, vaccine safety confidence is a significant predictor of influenza and COVID vaccination in Hispanic adults. Yet, little is known about how misinformation narratives emerge specifically in relation to Hispanic communities, how they are disseminated, and how they ultimately affect people’s decision to get vaccinated. Social media posts that include personal narratives are more effective at communicating reliable health recommendations, especially those that come from a trusted peer. Therefore, communication strategies that leverage community and interpersonal relationships can prove extremely effective at debunking misinformation about vaccines. Promotores de salud are trusted community members who serve as links between health/social services and a community to improve access to health services and quality of service delivery. Promotores can diffuse and address misinformation in their communities and can be essential to debunk myths, increase trust, and improve health outcomes; they have been at the forefront of addressing disparities in COVID testing and vaccine uptake. Promotores de salud are uniquely positioned as trusted messengers to debunk vaccine misinformation through strategic use of social media and infodemiology principles. Dime La VerDAD (Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate) is an innovative social media capacity-building program based on theoretical frameworks related to health communication that empowers promotores de salud to debunk vaccine misinformation 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 infodemiology, 2) evaluate how debunking misinformation is perceived on social media, and 3) discern how use of personal narratives to enhance science communication can lead to changes in opinions and behavior (vaccination rates) about COVID and influenza vaccines among Chicago’s predominantly Hispanic communities.


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: 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	002	2	4/14/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$637,244
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
2025	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	1	4/14/2025	NEW	-$59,458
														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 = $642,899

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Dime la VerDAD (Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate)

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: 09/15/2024

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer