Department of Economics, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Analytics, University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Department of Management, International Business, and Supply Chain Management, University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
N C Med J. 2023 Sep;85(1):64-69. doi: 10.18043/001c.88060.
COVID-19 has amplified the health and economic disparities in Native American communities. However, there are limited data from Native American populations. This study is the first phase of the Building Resilience And Vital Equity (BRAVE) project, the scope of which is to understand Indigenous perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors about COVID-19 and design and implement culturally sensitive interventions to increase testing and vaccinations among Native American communities.
We recruited 26 Native Americans and conducted open-ended, semi-structured interviews to explore participants' perceptions of COVID-19 and related themes, such as needed support, informational sources, trust, communication, and protection of elders.
The results show that wearing a mask, hand sanitizing, and social distancing had very high support while perceptions of testing and vaccination decisions were mixed. Additionally, two themes stand out: the lack of reliable information resources to learn about COVID-19 and the lack of trust in the government.
This study included a small sample size, which makes it difficult to include participants from diverse demographic backgrounds. Lack of familiarity with the online meeting format and the limited internet access in some indigenous communities may have prevented some people from participating.
The findings confirmed the need to improve existing public health information infrastructure and helped explain the intensified impact of COVID-19 on the Indigenous marginalized community. The findings help identify the key factors that affect Native Americans' testing and vaccination decisions and provide guidance on the designs of community intervention programs.
COVID-19 加剧了美洲原住民社区的健康和经济差距。然而，来自美洲原住民群体的数据有限。本研究是“建立韧性和公平（BRAVE）”项目的第一阶段，其范围是了解美洲原住民对 COVID-19 的看法、态度和行为，并设计和实施文化敏感的干预措施，以增加美洲原住民社区的检测和疫苗接种。
我们招募了 26 名美洲原住民，并进行了开放式、半结构式访谈，以探讨参与者对 COVID-19 的看法以及相关主题，如需要的支持、信息来源、信任、沟通和保护老年人。
结果表明，戴口罩、洗手和保持社交距离得到了非常高的支持，而对检测和接种疫苗的看法则存在分歧。此外，有两个主题突出：缺乏可靠的信息资源来了解 COVID-19，以及对政府的不信任。
本研究样本量较小，难以纳入来自不同人口背景的参与者。一些原住民社区对在线会议格式不熟悉以及互联网接入有限，可能导致一些人无法参与。
研究结果证实了需要改进现有的公共卫生信息基础设施，并有助于解释 COVID-19 对边缘化的原住民社区的影响加剧。研究结果有助于确定影响美洲原住民检测和接种疫苗决定的关键因素，并为社区干预计划的设计提供指导。
