Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda

Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: COVID-19; Misinformation; Mental Health

Treatments: Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design); Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design); Behavioral: SMS Messaging

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05997511

IRB22-1339

Details and patient eligibility

About

Partners In Health (PIH), in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, aims to develop and evaluate an SMS-based intervention for Community Health Workers (CHWs) to combat COVID-19 and mental health-related misinformation in Haiti, Rwanda, and Malawi. The study involves three aims: identifying locally relevant misinformation through a card-sorting exercise with CHWs, developing targeted messages through cognitive interviewing, and evaluating the effectiveness of SMS-based educational message dissemination via a randomized controlled trial. The evaluation will assess the impact on public health practices, knowledge and attitudes among CHWs, and knowledge and attitudes among community members.

Full description

The intervention will involve sending SMS messages to randomized CHWs, addressing either COVID-19 or mental health misinformation. CHWs will have access to a helpline for further support and can provide feedback to refine the messaging. The evaluation will use a time series analysis to measure changes in COVID-19 vaccine administration, mental health service utilization, CHWs' knowledge and attitudes, and community members' knowledge and attitudes. The study aims to empower CHWs with accurate information, improve public health practices, and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes in the communities served by PIH. Rwanda and Haiti CHWs will receive the messages for 12 months, but Malawi CHWs will receive the messages for 6 months due to a CHW transition in country.

Enrollment: 5,109 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The intervention will be assigned at the unit of the CHWs. These individuals will also be eligible for the CHW longitudinal cohort.

Inclusion Criteria:

• CHWs affiliated with PIH Rwanda, Malawi, or Haiti
• 18+ years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Less than 18 years old.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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5,109 participants in 2 patient groups

COVID-19

Other group

Description:

Behavioral (SMS) Intervention

Treatment:

Behavioral: SMS Messaging

Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design)

Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design)

Mental Health

Other group

Description:

Behavorial (SMS) Intervention

Treatment:

Behavioral: SMS Messaging

Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design)

Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design)