# ARISe Center for Rural Vaccination at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

> **NIH ALLCDC U48** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2024 · $349,882

## Abstract

We propose to establish the ARISe Center for Rural Vaccination at UMass Chan Medical School as a
Collaborating Center of the ARISe Network to support the overarching goals of the Network to advance
immunization services research through collaboration and contribute to the development of evidence-based
practices to promote immunization. The ARISe Center for Rural Vaccination at UMass Chan will seek to
promote vaccination across the lifespan in rural geographies. Specifically, we will focus regionally on the six
states that comprise New England, which like much of the rest of the country, has significantly lower rates of
vaccination in rural areas, compared to urban centers. While these urban-rural inequities are well documented,
there is less known about drivers of vaccine hesitancy and implementation of evidence-based interventions in
rural areas. Our application seeks to fill these gaps and our proposal is directly responsive to priority areas #1
and #2 of SIP-24-012, as we will both conduct in-depth social science research using innovative methods to
explore vaccine hesitancy and how to combat it and pilot test a community-level intervention. To that end, we
propose three specific aims to simultaneously accomplish both center and network goals. Aim 1 is to identify
characteristics of popular social media fostering vaccine hesitancy and test the effectiveness of vaccine
promotion messages in rural populations. First, we will perform a comprehensive content analysis of anti-
vaccine messaging on popular social media platforms most used by rural populations (e.g., Instagram,
Facebook) to identify key message characteristics (e.g., theme, account type, reasons to be hesitant, etc.).
Subsequently, employing psychophysiological measures (i.e., remote eye-tracking) and self-report measures,
we will evaluate the responses to vaccine promotion content. In Aim 2 we will adapt and test a model for a
community vaccine ambassador program, previously created by our team, in rural communities in New
England (n=6 pilot sites). Our goals in adaptation are to ensure appropriateness for the context and to build out
a more community-driven approach to implementation. Our ambassador campaigns will focus on multiple
dissemination channels, including social media and we will integrate findings from Aim 1 to help ambassadors
develop effective communication materials. We will qualitatively evaluate feasibility of this approach through
semi-structured interviews with ambassadors. Aim 3 is to actively contribute to ARISe Network activities,
including participating in workgroups, creating products to support dissemination of materials, and other needs
that arise from the Network. Our team brings expertise in rural vaccination, working with populations across the
lifespan, community-based research methods, implementation science, and health communication science to
Network activities. Depending on the structure of the network, we would propose to lead workgroups or
activit...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11047832
- **Project number:** 1U48DP006883-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephenie C. Lemon
- **Activity code:** U48 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $349,882
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-30 → 2029-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11047832

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11047832, ARISe Center for Rural Vaccination at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (1U48DP006883-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/11047832. Licensed CC0.

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