Research
Research Themes
HCEL's research focuses on three themes:
- Describe the patterns of communication inequalities (health information exposure, processing, and capacity to take action) among vulnerable populations.
- Analyze how communication inequalities, and social and contextual factors interact to influence health disparities.
- Design and evaluate effective approaches to reduce communication inequalities and health disparities.
Our research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Cancer Research UK, and philanthropic foundations.
Current Projects
Project SMART: Social Media Anti-vaping Messages to Reduce ENDS Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Teens
Project SMART is a five-year grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Our study objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored social media intervention to prevent vaping initiation among LGBTQ youth ages 13-18 years. We will conduct rapid-cycle feedback with stakeholders including LGBTQ organization leaders and youth advisor to provide input on the message design, testing, and intervention implementation to ensure feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Our interdisciplinary team comprises researchers from the Annenberg School, Perelman School of Medicine, as well as from the University of Florida, Florida International University, The Fenway Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Pilgrim Health System, and community advisors from Equitas Health Institute, National LGBT Cancer Network, California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership, and LGBT CenterLink.
Project Dates: July 2021 – April 2026
Project RESIST: Increasing Resistance to Tobacco Marketing among Young Adult Sexual Minority Women Using Inoculation Message Approaches
Project RESIST is an R01 grant funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The goal of this project is to determine the effects of using a culturally-tailored inoculation approach to increase resilience to tobacco marketing influences among young adult sexual minority women and to obtain stakeholders' critical inputs that support the later adoption and implementation of a health messaging approach within community organizations.
This study involves researchers from Penn as well as Michigan State University, Stanford University, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, The Fenway Institute, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and community advisors from Equitas Health Institute, National LGBT Cancer Network, California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership, and LGBT CenterLink.
Project Dates: January 2020 – December 2024
Completed Projects
Measuring the Public Health Impact of State-level Flavored Tobacco Bans on Youth and Adult Tobacco Use
The objectives of this R21 grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are to estimate the initial impacts of the new Massachusetts (MA) law on tobacco use behaviors among youth and adults and quit attempts among adults in MA compared with four adjacent New England states and to identify the barriers and facilitators during the initial period of implementing the MA law.
This study involves researchers from Penn as well as Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Northeastern University, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and partners from Cambridge Health Alliance and the MA Department of Public Health.
Project Dates: September 2020 – August 2022
Project SPRING: Smoking Protective and Risk factors in Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Groups
The objective of Project SPRING was to measure the risk and protective factors experienced by transgender adult smokers using a Digital Photovoice approach and conducted on social media. Participants shared pictures related to their smoking on social media and then discussed those pictures in a focus group.
This study involved researchers from Penn, University of Massachusetts Boston, and The Fenway Institute.
Project Dates: September 2018 – August 2020
Photo Credit (top image): Broesis / Pixabay