Impact of a Community Care Intervention to Address Inequities in COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Among Adults Suffering from Disproportionate Chronic Disease

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Racial and ethnic minorities with chronic illness suffer disproportionately from infectious diseases. Analysis of COVID-19 and influenza data suggest multiple determinants of vaccination inequities among non-Hispanic whites and other racial/ethnic groups. These include manifestations of structural racism such as poor access to care and lack of cultural, language, and literacy-appropriate factual information to promote awareness of and motivation to partake in protective vaccination behaviors. Integrated within health and community systems alike, community health worker (CHW) interventions are an effective strategy to simultaneously address structural and social determinants of health in multiple settings. Building on a long-standing partnership between RAND, Clinical Directors Network (CDN), and local community groups and leaders, we propose a study to tailor, implement and evaluate a community health worker (CHW intervention) to increase vaccination acceptance and vaccination rates for COVID-19 (primary outcome) and influenza (secondary outcome) among individuals with chronic illness who receive their primary care in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Tailoring of the CHW intervention will be grounded on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behavior (COM-B) theoretical behavioral model and in partnership with a Community Advisory Board (CAB) composed of patients and representatives from local community organizations. We propose a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the efficacy of the CHW-VB (Community Health Worker Intervention to enhance Vaccination Behaviors) intervention to improve vaccine acceptance, uptake, and implementation among racial/ethnic minority adults with any of 7 chronic conditions (asthma, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression, anxiety disorder, or PTSD). The study has 4 aims over 5 years: 1) tailor the CHW intervention based on formative research (Aim 1: Year 1); 2) conduct the RCT to test the efficacy of CHW-VB (Aim 2: Years 2-4); 3) understand the effects of CHW-VB and examine measures of capability, motivation, and opportunity as mediators and demographic characteristics and chronic medical/mental conditions as moderators (Aim 3: Years 3-4); and, 5) assess contextual factors affecting implementation and sustainability (Aim 4: Year 5). Our community-based participatory research approach is anchored in partnership with the CAB in all stages of the research, through regular meetings for the formative assessment, co-designing the adaptation of the intervention, troubleshooting any implementation hurdles, and actively participating in the interpretation and dissemination of the results. FHQCs employ CHWs as part of the lifeline of health care services delivered to mostly non-white and under/uninsured patients with chronic illnesses. Community engagement is also a core value for FQHCs who are governed by individuals and community-based agencies from the impoverished communities they serve. The CHW-VB intervention, if efficacious, has a high potential for scalability and sustainability in this setting.