# The Impact of COVID-19 and Social Distancing on Cancer-Related Behaviors

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2020 · $154,500

## Abstract

Given the wide variability in communication and restrictions across communities in the U.S. in response to the COVID-19
pandemic, the extent to which people across the country are changing their behaviors to mitigate risk of transmission is
unknown. Furthermore, it is difficult to anticipate how changing behaviors in response to COVID-19 could impact cancerrelated behaviors and risk factors; exercising, drinking, smoking, diet and stress could be profoundly impacted as a result
of social distancing and self-isolation. Furthermore, different populations may be impacted in very different ways. For
example, Iowa is among the handful of predominantly rural states that have not yet implemented a statewide shelter in
place order, citing lower risk of infection in rural areas. Yet in this first week of April, the case rate in rural areas has
more than doubled from one week prior, and widespread testing is not available to assess the true extent of the case
count. It has also been reported that in rural areas without reliable internet access, adults are struggling to work
remotely, and children are having to get school assignments delivered to their door.1 Furthermore, rural communities
may have diminished access to health information, healthcare services, grocery stores and pharmacies.
As a multicenter group of cancer researchers already invested deeply in understanding and improving health outcomes
in our catchment areas, we propose to rapidly deploy surveys containing a standard set of core questions to populations
across the U.S. The overall objective of our collaborative effort is to assess how differences in demographics (rurality,
age, gender, race, educational attainment) will impact engagement in cancer preventive behaviors (e.g., tobacco
cessation) and cancer management/survivorship behaviors (e.g., adherence to treatment, adherence to surveillance) in
the context of COVID-19 environmental constraints (e.g., social distancing, employment, mental health, etc.) among the
general adult populations, cancer patients, and cancer survivors in Iowa.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10143402
- **Project number:** 3P30CA086862-20S3
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** George J. Weiner
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $154,500
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2000-07-14 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10143402

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10143402, The Impact of COVID-19 and Social Distancing on Cancer-Related Behaviors (3P30CA086862-20S3). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10143402. Licensed CC0.

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