Mobilizing faith-based COVID-19 health ambassadors to address COVID-19 health disparities among African American older adults in under-resourced communities: A hybrid, community-based participatory intervention.

Autor: Adinkrah EK; Department of Family Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Bazargan S; Departments of Psychiatry, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Cobb S; Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Kibe LW; Physician Associate Program, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Vargas R; Department of Internal Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Waller J; Office of Research, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Sanchez H; Office of Research, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America., Bazargan M; Department of Family Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.; Department of Family Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Feb 15; Vol. 19 (2), pp. e0285963. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 15 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285963
Abstrakt: Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected older adults, particularly those with pre-existing chronic health conditions. To address the health disparity and challenges faced by under-resourced African American older adults in South Los Angeles during this period, we implemented a hybrid (virtual/in-person), pre-post, community-based participatory intervention research project utilizing a faith-based lay health advisor model (COVID-19 Health Ambassador Program (CHAP)). We recruited COVID-19 Health Ambassadors (CHAs) and African American older adults (participants) from faith-based organizations who partook in CHA-led meetings and follow-ups that educated and supported the participants. This paper seeks to evaluate this intervention's implementation using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) as a reporting tool with an emphasis on fidelity, challenges, and adaptations based on data collected via stakeholder interviews and surveys.
Results: CHAP was delivered to 152 participants by 19 CHAs from 17 faith-based organizations. CHAs assisted with chronic disease management, resolved medication-related challenges, encouraged COVID-19 vaccination, reduced psychological stress and addressed healthcare avoidance behaviors such as COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the participants. Challenges encountered include ensuring participant engagement and retention in the virtual format and addressing technological barriers for CHAs and participants. Adaptations made to better suit the needs of participants included providing communication tools and additional training to CHAs to improve their proficiency in using virtual platforms in addition to adapting scientific/educational materials to suit our participants' diverse cultural and linguistic needs.
Conclusion: The community-centered hybrid approach in addition to our partnership with faith-based organizations and their respective COVID-19 health ambassadors proved to be essential in assisting underserved African American older adults manage chronic health conditions and address community-wide health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adaptability, cultural sensitivity, and teamwork are key to implementing health interventions especially in underserved populations.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Adinkrah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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