Plunk Andrew D, Hannon Kapri, Carver Alexandra, Cooper Diane, Grant Debra, Greene Sudie, Morgan Emma, Gehlert Sarah
Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, United States.
Housing Collaborative Community Advisory Board, Norfolk, VA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2023 May 5;11:1096246. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1096246. eCollection 2023.
The Housing Collaborative project at Eastern Virginia Medical School has developed a method of adapting public health guidance from public housing communities, which face tremendous health challenges in cardiometabolic health, cancer, and other major health conditions. In this paper, we describe how academic and community partners in the Housing Collaborative came together to do this work with a focus on COVID-19 testing in the context of the emerging pandemic.
The academic team used virtual community engagement methods to interact with the Housing Collaborative Community Advisory Board (HCCAB) and a separate cohort of research participants ( = 102) recruited into a study of distrust in COVID-19 guidance. We conducted a series of 44 focus group interviews with participants on related topics. Results from these interviews were discussed with the HCCAB. We used the collaborative intervention planning framework to inform adaptation of public health guidance on COVID-19 testing delivered in low-income housing settings by including all relevant perspectives.
Participants reported several important barriers to COVID-19 testing related to distrust in the tests and those administering them. Distrust in housing authorities and how they might misuse positive test results seemed to further undermine decision making about COVID-19 testing. Pain associated with testing was also a concern. To address these concerns, a peer-led testing intervention was proposed by the Housing Collaborative. A second round of focus group interviews was then conducted, in which participants reported their approval of the proposed intervention.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic was not our initial focus, we were able to identify a number of barriers to COVID-19 testing in low-income housing settings that can be addressed with adapted public health guidance. We struck a balance between community input and scientific rigor and obtained high quality, honest feedback to inform evidence-based recommendations to guide decisions about health.
东弗吉尼亚医学院的住房合作项目开发了一种方法，用于调整来自公共住房社区的公共卫生指导意见，这些社区在心脏代谢健康、癌症和其他主要健康状况上面临巨大的健康挑战。在本文中，我们描述了住房合作项目中的学术和社区合作伙伴如何共同开展这项工作，重点是在新出现的疫情背景下进行新冠病毒检测。
学术团队使用虚拟社区参与方法，与住房合作社区咨询委员会（HCCAB）以及招募到一项关于对新冠病毒指导意见不信任研究中的另一组研究参与者（n = 102）进行互动。我们就相关主题对参与者进行了一系列44次焦点小组访谈。这些访谈的结果与HCCAB进行了讨论。我们使用协作干预规划框架，通过纳入所有相关观点，为低收入住房环境中提供的新冠病毒检测公共卫生指导意见的调整提供信息。
参与者报告了与对检测及检测实施者的不信任相关的几个重要的新冠病毒检测障碍。对住房当局以及他们可能如何滥用阳性检测结果的不信任似乎进一步破坏了关于新冠病毒检测的决策。检测带来的疼痛也是一个问题。为了解决这些问题，住房合作项目提出了一项由同伴主导的检测干预措施。随后进行了第二轮焦点小组访谈，参与者报告他们批准了提议的干预措施。
尽管新冠疫情并非我们最初的关注重点，但我们能够识别出低收入住房环境中新冠病毒检测存在的一些障碍，这些障碍可以通过调整后的公共卫生指导意见来解决。我们在社区意见和科学严谨性之间取得了平衡，并获得了高质量、真实的反馈，以为基于证据的建议提供信息，从而指导健康决策。
