# AppalTRuST Community Outreach and Participant Engagement Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2024 · $1,212,100

## Abstract

ABSTRACT – COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND PARTICIPANT ENGAGEMENT (COPE) CORE
The Community Outreach and Participant Engagement (COPE) Core will recruit and retain the AppalTRuST
Cohort of 2,000 adults (ages 18+) in Appalachian Kentucky (KY) including a) an address-based probability
sample (PS) of 1,000 participants; and b) a quota-based non-probability sample (NPS) of 1,000 participants.
The Biostatistics and Informatics Core (BIC) will use statistical methods to combine them. Project 1 will use the
full AppalTRuST Cohort (N=2,000), providing an adequate sample to capture estimates of tobacco use
behaviors (e.g., initiation, switching, transitions) over time among subpopulations of interest (e.g., young
adults, tobacco users). Project 2 (n=308, ages 18-24) and Project 3 (n=473 tobacco users, ages 21+) will draw
from the Cohort. All projects, pilots, and TCORS partners will have access to the Cohort data through our
AppalTRuST Data Warehouse.
Using established rural/urban taxonomies, we selected heterogeneous counties that make up a rural
catchment of 5 counties and a peri-urban (i.e., intermediate and smaller cities and towns) catchment of 3
counties, enabling projects to assess contextual- and individual-level effects of rurality on outcomes, enhancing
innovation and our ability to inform more equitable FDA regulations. COPE Aims are to: (1) develop and
implement a culturally tailored community-engaged outreach campaign to promote participation in the
AppalTRuST Cohort; (2) implement strategic recruitment and baseline data collection for the AppalTRuST
Cohort (Project 1) and recruitment into the other projects and pilot studies; (3) implement strategic retention
strategies and administer 6-month follow-up surveys; and (4) disseminate AppalTRuST research findings to
the community to sustain support and retention.
COPE will co-design a community outreach campaign with two community advisory boards (one per
catchment) with promotional materials tailored for Appalachian KY that are strategically disseminated to reach
subpopulations of interest (e.g., tobacco users). COPE will hire, train, and monitor local field staff to recruit and
enroll participants into the AppalTRuST Cohort and manage completion of 6-month follow-up surveys. Cohort
participants will complete 3 to 8 surveys, depending on time of enrollment in Project 1. Multiple strategies will
maximize retention, including our community outreach campaign and monthly contact between participants
and field staff. Our community dissemination plan will report back AppalTRuST study findings to sustain
community support and Cohort retention. The innovative approaches implemented by COPE will support
AppalTRuST in closing a critical knowledge gap in rural tobacco use behaviors, marketing, and impact analysis
to help shape more equitable FDA regulations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10934540
- **Project number:** 5U54DA058256-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Pamela Carmen Hull
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,212,100
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-30 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10934540

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10934540, AppalTRuST Community Outreach and Participant Engagement Core (5U54DA058256-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10934540. Licensed CC0.

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