Community-Based Health Education Programs for the Early Detection of, and Vaccination Against, COVID-19 and the Adoption of Self-Protective Measures of Hong Kong Residents

A Multicenter, Cluster-Randomized, Active-Controlled, Single-Blind Trial of Community-Based Health Education Programs for the Early Detection of, and Vaccination Against, COVID-19 and the Adoption of Self-Protective Measures of Hong Kong Residents

This study evaluates the community-based health education program in improving early testing for COVID-19, increasing vaccination acceptability and enhancing emergency preparedness and self-protection measures against COVID-19 in HK. We established a partnership with several local community stakeholders and they will be responsible for recruiting participants and implementing educational programs. Half of the community collaborators will receive the core intervention package, and use it as education material. The other half will be encouraged to self-collect and send health information to the participants.

This health education program is based on a Community-based Participants Research (CBPR) approach, which is a partnership approach that equitably involves community members and researchers in all aspects of the research process. Given the different cultural, professional or living background of Hong Kong residents, we think this simple, flexible and sustainable approach will effectively mitigate the COVID-19 risk in HK society,

An academic-community collaboration platform with several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), companies and schools will be established before this study. They will work together to recruit participants, design and implement a series of educational programs aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

For participants recruited by NGOs and companies, the Inclusion Criteria will be:

• HK resident aged 18 years or above;
• Agreement to participate in the study and provide written informed consent.

The Exclusion Criteria will be:

• Cognitive impairment that inhibits communication with the investigators;
• Inability or unwillingness to provide written informed consent.

For participants recruited by schools, the Inclusion Criteria will be:

• HK students aged 12 to 18 years and their parents.

The Exclusion Criteria will be:

• Cannot provide written informed consent (or assent for the younger students).