Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;9(6):2300-2316.
doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01167-5. Epub 2022 Apr 7.

Testing Communication Concepts on COVID-19 Contact Tracing Among Black and Latinx/Hispanic People in the United States

Sandra Mullin  1 , Shuo Wang  1 , Irina Morozova  1 , Julia Berenson  1 , Nana Asase  1 , Denene Jonielle Rodney  2 , Sharon Arthur  2 , Nandita Murukutla  3
Affiliations

Testing Communication Concepts on COVID-19 Contact Tracing Among Black and Latinx/Hispanic People in the United States

Sandra Mullin et al. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Black and Latinx/Hispanic people were more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than White people, but because of legacies of discrimination and maltreatment in health care, were less likely to participate in some public health responses to COVID-19, including contact tracing. This study aimed to test three communication campaign concepts to engage Black and Latinx/Hispanic people in contact tracing efforts.

Methods: Twelve focus group discussions with 5 to 10 participants each were conducted online among participants from Black and Latinx/Hispanic urban populations in Philadelphia and New York state. Participants provided sociodemographic information and were presented with potential campaign concepts and prompted to rate the concepts and engage in open-ended discussion. For rating and sociodemographic data, chi-square tests were performed. For open-ended discussion data, a thematic analysis approach was used.

Results: Across groups, the campaign concept that was rated most likely to encourage cooperation with contact tracing efforts was "Be the One," with 45% of total first-place votes. Participants expressed that the campaign caught their attention (79%), motivated them to engage with contact tracers (71%) and to talk to others about contact tracing (77%). Discussions also elucidated: the importance of community engagement; the need for clearer explanations of contact tracing; the preference for already trusted, community-based contact tracers; the need to reassure people about confidentiality; and for contact tracing to be culturally competent and empathetic.

Conclusions: This study highlights how strategic, culturally sensitive communication can buttress current and future contact tracing efforts, especially among Black and Latinx/Hispanic people.

Keywords: Black; COVID-19; Contact tracing; Latinx/Hispanic; Mass media campaign; Racial and ethnic disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Individual concept reactions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparative ratings of concepts on parameters of appeal
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Webb Hooper M, Nápoles AM, Pérez-Stable EJ. COVID-19 and racial/ethnic disparities. JAMA. 2020;323(24):2466–2467. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.8598. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chowkwanyun M, Reed AL. Racial health disparities and Covid-19—caution and context. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:201–203. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2012910. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yancy CW. COVID-19 and African Americans. JAMA. Published online April 15, 2020. 10.1001/jama.2020.6548 - PubMed
    1. Price-Haywood EG, Burton J, Fort D, Seoane L. Hospitalization and mortality among black patients and white patients with covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(26):2534–43. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa2011686. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Millett, G. A., Jones, A. T., Benkeser, D., Baral, S., Mercer, L., Beyrer, C., . . . Crowley, J. S. (2020). Assessing differential impacts of COVID-19 on Black communities. Annals of Epidemiology. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources