COVID-19 Preventive Behavior in African Americans

Overview

The Center Disease Control has published a set of guidelines to contain the spread of the virus, since it is known to spread from person-to-person. Given the vaccine and specific antiviral treatment for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remain under development and will take months or years to develop, intermittent and sustained preventive behaviors may be needed into 2022 unless effective treatments or vaccines are developed. Thus, effectively implementing preventive behaviors remains a critical step in bringing the pandemic under long-term control. Leveraging the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) method developed in the parent R01 for smartphones, which allows for real-time data collection on individual's behaviors, the investigators propose a prospective single arm and longitudinal study to examine the effectiveness of self-monitoring EMA (SM-EMA) in promoting adherence to COVID-19 preventative behaviors. SM-EMA users will download the smartphone app which includes: (1) instructional videos to provide knowledge of preventative behaviors; (2) self-monitoring of preventative behaviors during intervention and follow-up phases; (3) tailored-feedback messages to encourage preventative behaviors; and (4) mobile-enabled website to provide an interactive learning platform. If proven efficacious, this intervention could be efficiently disseminated to reach the larger public and foster preventive behaviors into self-management as effective strategies for long-term control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the vaccine and specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 will take months or years to develop and finalize, preventive behaviors remain the most effective strategy thus far and may be needed until 2022 to control the pandemic. African Americans, who have 3-fold higher infection rate and 6-fold higher death rate compared to the white counterparts, are an especially vulnerable population to COVID-19. Immediately initiating a project that promotes and maximizes adherence to preventative behaviors is vital to addressing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The investigators propose a prospective single arm and longitudinal study to examine the effectiveness of SM-EMA in promoting adherence to COVID-19 preventative behaviors. The intervention will include two daily pop-up messages during Week 1 (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), one daily pop-message in Week 2, and two pop-up messages a week in Weeks 3 and 4. The duration for the intervention will be four weeks. The study outcomes will be collected at baseline (pre-intervention, T1), post-(completion of the intervention, T2, primary endpoint), and monthly follow-up for three months (T3-T5). The total study duration will be four months.