Social and behavioral prevention and treatment

TRDRP supports research projects and collaborations from California institutions of higher learning and community-based organizations with capacity to conduct research that aims to prevent or reduce tobacco product use and the negative impacts of tobacco-related diseases among California’s tobacco priority groups.  Applicants are encouraged to address the social, structural, and addictive factors contributing to tobacco product use and related disease, as well as educational and clinical interventions to reduce the deleterious effects from the use of all forms of nicotine delivery system across all age groups. Research from the social, behavioral, and public health sciences that provides evidence to battle nicotine addiction, and the marketing practices of the tobacco and nicotine industry is needed. Partners in community settings including schools, clinics, tribes, tribal organizations, community nonprofit organizations, and multi-unit housing sites are prime collaborators for this research effort.

The program also aims to solicit proposals for research that will have a major impact in developing, implementing, or testing strategies to prevent, reduce, or eliminate disparities in tobacco product use or tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.   

Research that allows for intersectional approaches in data gathering, analysis and interpretation is critical for producing research findings that reflect the lived experience of individuals affected by tobacco use.  Research that is embedded in California communities, reflects the lived experiences of community members, and fosters community scientist training that is focused on tobacco prevention and control will ensure more rapid advances in this impact-driven scientific area. As such, TRDRP continues to solicit projects across the full spectrum of community engagement through Core Award mechanisms and Community-Partnered Participatory Research Award (CPPRA) mechanisms to support collaborative community-partnered investigative teams in the conduct of research that addresses issues prioritized by the community.  

Examples of relevant research topics:  

• Health behavior change interventions that promote cessation of tobacco and nicotine product use among all age groups including, but not limited to: multiple tobacco product use, flavored tobacco product use, synthetic nicotine products (e.g., nicotine pouches), heated tobacco, tobacco-cannabis co-use, and/or poly-substance use that includes tobacco; 
• Development and testing of new theoretical frameworks that advance our understanding of the benefits/limitations of culturally tailored tobacco prevention and treatment interventions compared to general population-based interventions with consideration of intersectional issues and structural determinants of health;   
• Research that elucidates the role of structural, commercial, and social determinants of health in shaping the experience of priority populations facing the tobacco epidemic in California;    
• Innovative use of virtual technologies to expand the reach and access of evidence-based or practice-informed tobacco prevention and cessation interventions, particularly for hard-to-reach users of tobacco and nicotine products.;    
• Research that broadly develops surveillance tools to track social, behavioral, and commercial changes related to tobacco and nicotine industry marketing strategies and the tobacco retail environment, including tobacco product characteristics such as addition of non-menthol cooling agents;   
• Implementation science research that can directly inform innovation in the provision of tobacco prevention and cessation services for Medi-Cal enrollees and Californians with health insurance coverage; 
• Research that addresses practices, interventions, and policies in healthcare and public health settings to improve behavioral outcomes related to tobacco, such as quit attempts, abstinence rates, and initiation; 
• Machine learning methods and other artificial intelligence technologies that utilize economies of scale in health care;  
• Investigation of how the complex history of past and present-day experiences of targeted marketing by the tobacco industry has shaped usage patterns in specific tobacco priority populations; 
• The development of cessation interventions designed with knowledge of the influences of the industry, particularly multilevel efforts to reduce affordability, accessibility, appeal, and addictiveness of tobacco products; 
• Studies addressing reducing other health inequities with tobacco products, such as between types of workers with high exposure to tobacco product use and marketing, people living with mental health disorders, and people living with substance use disorders; 
• Please also refer to the TEROC plan for more examples of priority topics of research.