Study Participants

• Eligibility
• What does a participant do?
• How will participant information be used?
• Information collected
• Participant Contributions
  • What is an advisory board?
  • What is a Community Advisory Board (CAB)?
  • What is an ancillary study?

Eligibility

Enrollment in the RURAL Study is underway in Kentucky. Participants must be residents of specific counties in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. To be eligible for the study, participants must meet the following requirements:

• Be 25-64 years of age
• Speak English or Spanish
• Have resided in the specific county for the past 6 months and plan to reside at the residence for the next 6 months
• Not currently incarcerated or institutionalized
• Not currently in hospice care and does not have terminal illness with less than 6 month life expectancy

What does a participant do?

Participants in the RURAL Study will receive information on different areas of their health, including their heart and lungs.

We will visit participants in their county to complete an in-person research exam at our mobile exam unit. At the end of the visit, participants will receive a Fitbit device and a RURAL cell phone app that will be used to collect information about their health and lifestyle.

How will participant information be used?

Participants will receive results from their research exam, which they can also share with their doctor. The RURAL Study team will refer participants to a health center if there are immediate health concerns found during the research exam.

The RURAL Study follows all HIPAA rules and regulations, in addition to the NIH and institutional guidelines, for the protection of all research participants. No information from the study that could identify a participant will be publicly shared.

Information collected

The in-person exam in the Mobile Examination Unit (MEU) will take about 3.5 hours and will include:

• Vital signs, including height and weight
• Blood draw
• Interviews and surveys asking about lifestyle and health history
• Tests related to heart, lung, and blood vessel health

After the in-person exam, we will track participants’ physical activity using the provided Fitbit device. We will also ask questions about their overall health and lifestyle through the RURAL cell phone app.

Learn more about our MEU by watching the video below:

Participant Contributions

What is an advisory board?

An advisory board is a group of individuals who have been selected to give advice to the RURAL Cohort Study team. Our goal is to partner with communities for research. This requires the creation of advisory boards that are tailored to the needs of the communities. Our team will work with both community members and local organizations to create these advisory boards. These boards are participant-focused and inspired by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

What is a Community Advisory Board (CAB)?

The Community Advisory Boards will include community engagement coordinators, community members, participants, and some members of our team. They will meet regularly to ensure that we understand the concerns of rural community members. This will allow our research to have the greatest benefit to participants and their communities.

What is an ancillary study?

An ancillary study (AS) is any study that may request additional new data or biosample collection from RURAL Cohort Study participants or any previously collected data from RURAL participants. AS includes those with the goal of secondary data analyses if funding is sought and analysis of collected data for hypotheses related and unrelated to the central goals and aims of the RURAL Cohort Study.