Leveraging Community-Academic Partnerships and Social Networks to Disseminate Vaccine-Related Information and Increase Vaccine Uptake Among Black Individuals With Rheumatic Diseases.
Leveraging Community-Academic Partnerships and Social Networks to Disseminate Vaccine-Related Information and Increase Vaccine Uptake Among Black Individuals With Rheumatic Diseases.
To establish the efficacy of a community-based POL (Popular Opinion Leader) intervention with two different trainings designed to increase COVID-19 vaccine and booster uptake and reduce hesitancy among social networks of Black individuals with rheumatic conditions. The investigators will also determine the structure and composition of the personal and outreach social networks of POLs.
Through community-academic partnerships in Boston and Chicago, investigators will recruit and randomly assign POLs who identify as Black with rheumatic conditions to two training arms in each city. Arms 1 and 2 will receive the same core curriculum addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, safety and efficacy. POLs will work in their communities to distributed information they learned in the trainings to members of their social network. The investigators will gather information about these social networks, assessing for differences in characteristics such as size, location, and who is in it (percentage of family, percentage Black, percentage with rheumatic conditions).
Inclusion Criteria:
POLs:
18-85 years old; All genders; English-speaking; Self-identify as Black and/or African descent; Received ≥1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine after 8.31.2022 (bivalent booster or updated COVID-19 vaccine [2023-2024] formula)
Social network members:
At least 18 years of age; All genders; English-speaking or Haitian Creole or Spanish-speaking if the POL also speaks Haitian Creole or Spanish; Not have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine 2023-2024 formula; Recent (within 3 months) COVID-19 infection and either undecided or no intention of receiving the vaccine.
Exclusion Criteria:
Both POLs and social network members:
Under 18 years of age Pregnant women Institutionalized or incarcerated Those who are up to date on COVID vaccinations