Reducing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Hispanic Parents

Arizona State University (ASU)

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; Narration; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health-Related Behavior; COVID-19 Pandemic

Treatments: Behavioral: Information Control Intervention; Behavioral: Baseline surveys; Behavioral: Digital Storytelling Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06036134

STUDY00017735

R21HD110837 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

COVID-19 vaccines are available to children over six months, and these vaccines are powerful tools against this catastrophic pandemic. However, Hispanic/Latino children have lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than White non-Hispanic children .Our team of health communication and public health experts proposes a community-based theory-driven intervention that utilizes culturally-grounded narratives from digital storytelling to reduce Hispanic parents' COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increase their children's vaccine uptake.

Full description

Among children and adolescents, infection with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) can lead to health complications (e.g., multisystem inflammatory syndrome, long COVID), hospitalizations, and death. COVID-19 vaccines are available to children over six months, and these vaccines are powerful tools against this catastrophic pandemic. However, Hispanic/Latino children have lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than White non-Hispanic children3 In most southwestern U.S. states, Hispanic children have the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates among pediatric populations. Lower vaccination rates in children are primarily due to parental vaccine hesitancy. Considerably more work is needed to decrease parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Hispanic parents.

Narrative-based interventions are powerful tools for persuading individuals to enact health behaviors (vaccination) that require an immediate personal cost (discomfort) for a longer-term gain (disease immunity). Our current study will examine digital storytelling (DST), a specific form of culturally-grounded narrative developed via community engagement, to reduce Hispanic parents' COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. No research, to our knowledge, has used digital stories to decrease Hispanic parents' vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, it is critical to assess which stories resonate with and are most persuasive for those who are hesitant to have their children receive COVID-19 doses and then explore the impact of an intervention utilizing these stories on parents' decisions to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

Specific Aims:

Aim 1: Develop one digital story per participant (n=10; each story lasting 2-3 minutes) in a DST workshop with a sample of Hispanic parents/ legal guardians converted from being COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant to vaccine-accepting.

Aim 2: Assess the feasibility and acceptability of a web-based pilot DST intervention vs. an information-only control among Hispanic parents and legal guardians (n=80) of children who are not up-to-date with CDC-recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Exploratory aim: The investigators will explore intervention and control group participants' (n=80) patterns of pre- to post-intervention change in vaccine uptake perceptions, vaccine hesitancy, intentions to vaccinate children against COVID-19, and children's vaccine uptake at two months post-intervention.

Enrollment: 80 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• self-identifies as Hispanic
• is a biological parent or a legal guardian of at least one child under 18 years old
• their child(ren) are not vaccinated against up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccine doses
• agrees to send and receive a text message and submit a photo of their child's immunization record for T3 data collection.

Exclusion criteria

• individuals who do not meet inclusion criteria or are unable/ unwilling to provide consent.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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80 participants in 2 patient groups

Baseline and Digital Storytelling (DST)

Experimental group

Description:

Once participants complete the consent, they will be asked to complete a baseline assessment using the web-based data collection platform, Research Electronic Data Capture before the random assignment to DST arm. The intervention group participants will watch the four selected digital stories about COVID-19 vaccine experiences among Hispanic parents of children. Each story was made with voice, images, and sound (3-5 minutes each). Intervention group participants will complete the Time 2 (T2) online survey immediately after the DST intervention. Two months later, the investigators will contact all participants and ask them to complete another follow-up (T3) assessment of participants' vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 vaccination behaviors (since T1 and T2).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Digital Storytelling Intervention

Behavioral: Baseline surveys

Baseline and Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Once participants complete the consent, they will be asked to complete a baseline assessment using the web-based data collection platform, Research Electronic Data Capture before the random assignment to control arm. Control group participants will receive a CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Information Sheet appropriate for their child's age before completing the T2 assessment. Two months later, the investigators will contact all participants and ask them to complete another follow-up (T3) assessment of participants' vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 vaccination behaviors (since T1 and T2).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Baseline surveys

Behavioral: Information Control Intervention