The Unvarnished Truth: Pursuing Health Equity by Correcting Disinformation Targeting African Americans About the FDA's Proposed Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

This study uses a prospective, randomized factorial trial design to evaluate delivery of anti-disinformation messaging (ADM) on Black adults' receptivity to flavored tobacco policies, beliefs about the tobacco industry, and beliefs about menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Eligible, consenting participants will complete the baseline survey, providing sociodemographic information and baseline measures of study outcomes. Participants will then be randomized, stratified by study site (Atlanta, GA or Birmingham, AL), in a 1:1 ratio within the survey platform to either the individually-delivered ADM intervention or control condition. Participants in the intervention condition (Intervention-I) will receive their first exposure to the ADM intervention at the end of baseline survey. At follow-up assessments (3-months, 6-months, 9-months, 12-months), all participants will complete study measures and at 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-up assessments, Intervention-I participants will be exposed to the ADM intervention at the end of the survey. Six months after our first enrollment in the trial, Atlanta will receive the community-delivered ADM intervention, while Birmingham serves as the control community. Community partners in Atlanta, our Intervention Community (Intervention-C), will disseminate our ADM intervention messages through their community networks for 12 months, overlapping at least six months with the delivery of the individual-level intervention (Intervention-I) in our enrolled participants. Upon completion of the final assessment (12-month follow-up), all participants will be exposed to the ADM intervention within the survey platform and asked to complete measures on perceived message effectiveness and credibility of the study messages.