Eliminating COVID-19 Disparities in Arizona in Partnership with Underserved/Vulnerable Communities
Underserved communities in Arizona
Flavio F. Marsiglia, Hyunsung Oh, Stephanie Ayers, Li Liu , Vel Murugan, Shiyou Wu, Tomas Leon (Equality Health Foundation), Edny Gonzalez (Helping Families in Need).
The projects aim is to increase access, acceptance, uptake, and sustainability of COVID-19 testing among underserved American Indian, Latinx, and African American communities living in testing deserts in Arizona through the implementation and evaluation of an innovative community-engaged intervention. It combines the R.A.P.I.D. testing model of Equality Health with a FDA-authorized saliva-based diagnostic test developed by the Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute.
Improving the health of underserved communities by reducing disparities in COVID-19 diagnostics, education, wraparound services, and referrals to a primary care provider.
Community-driven and culturally congruent intervention, utilizing a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) orientation. This approach includes identifying and prioritizing testing deserts, coordinating testing at different levels of the social ecosystem, engaging and training local Community Health Workers (CHWs) for saliva-based COVID-19 testing, delivering test results within 72 hours, providing wrap-around services and provider referrals for positive cases, and sustaining the intervention during a follow-up period.
Community Health Worker (CHW) Impact:
o CHWs play a crucial role in supporting underserved Latinx communities affected by COVID-19-related health inequities.
o Three key themes emerged from CHWs' experiences: acting as community bridges, serving as communication brokers and transformational agents, and expressing satisfaction and frustration in dual roles.
o Emphasizes the importance of integrating CHWs into the broader healthcare system, with recommendations for increased budgetary and training support.
COVID-19 Disparities in Arizona:
o Dynamic changes in COVID-19 disparities at the community level in Arizona were identified, revealing shifts in associations between growth rates and population factors.
o Associations between the percentage of Latinx population and COVID-19 growth rate changed, and new risk factors such as young median age and high unemployment rate emerged.
o Highlights the evolving nature of vulnerabilities, suggesting the need for adjusted resource allocations to address emerging community-level disparities.
Latinx Attitudes toward COVID-19 Measures:
o Latinx individuals surveyed in Spanish exhibit heightened perceptions of COVID-19 risk behaviors as more unsafe and stronger positive attitudes toward mask-wearing compared to non-Latinx Whites.
o Despite structural challenges, recent Latinx immigrants show positive attitudes toward public health COVID-19 mitigating measures.
o Implications for future research on community resilience and recommendations for practice and policy considerations in preventive measures.
o Hernandez-Salinas, C., Marsiglia, F. F., Oh, H., Campos, A. P., & De La Rosa, K. (2022). Community health workers as Puentes/bridges to increase COVID-19 health equity in Latinx communities of the southwest U.S. Journal of Community Health, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-022-01182-5
o Oh, H., Marsiglia, F. F., Pepin, S., Ayers, S., & Wu, S. (2023). Health Behavior and Attitudes During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Vulnerable and Underserved Latinx in the Southwest USA. Prevention Science, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01512-6
o Shen, F. L., Shu, J., Lee, M., Oh, H., Li, M., Runger, G., Marsiglia, F. F., & Liu, L. (2023). Evolution of COVID-19 health disparities in Arizona. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01449-6
Presentations
March 24, 2021
ASU Social Embeddedness Conference
Session Name: Building Community Infrastructure to Eliminate Health Disparities during COVID-19 Pandemic.
Presenter: Dr. Hyunsung Oh
April 30, 2021
Intertribal Council of Arizona Presentation
Session Name: Eliminating COVID-19 Testing Disparities in Arizona
Presenters: Jacob Moore, Tomás León, and Patricia Hibbeler
June 10, 2021
RADxUP Project-wide Meeting Presentation
Session Name: Eliminating COVID-19 Testing Disparities in Arizona – Testing in a World of Vaccines
Presenter: Anna Maria Maldonado
June 25, 2021
Arizona Community Health Worker’s Association (AZ CHOW) Conference Presentation Session Session Name: Eliminating Disparities in Arizona with CHW-Led COVID-19 Testing/Vaccine Model
Presenters: Anna Maria Maldonado, Tomás León, and Cynthia Aragon-Gonzalez
November 11, 2021
Presentation Submitted for Review
Society for Prevention Science Conference
January 14-16, 2022
Society for Prevention Research
SSWR Conference
Oh, H.*, Marsiglia, F., & Liu, L. (2022). Addressing disparities in access to COVID-19 testing in Arizona.2022 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.
January 19, 2022
Keynote Speaker: American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare
Session Name: COVID-19: Social Work Strategically Positioned to Take on the Challenge
Presenter: Dr. Flavio F. Marsiglia
February 10, 2022
Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC) Health Equity Lecture Series
Session Name: A Transdisciplinary & Community Based Response to COVID-19 Inequities in AZ
Presenter: Dr. Flavio F. Marsiglia
May 31, 2022 - Friday, June 3, 2022
Society for Prevention Research 30th Annual Meeting, Realizing the Power of Prevention Through Equitable Dissemination & Implementation Science
Presenter: Dr. Hyunsung Oh
ABSTRACT ID#: 30945
ABSTRACT TITLE: Community Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Vulnerable and Underserved Latinx in the Southwest US
SESSION ID#: 10248
SESSION TITLE: Increasing Resilience and Reducing Health Disparities in Latinx Communities
ABSTRACT STATUS: Organized Paper Symposium Paper ACCEPTED
April 20, 2022
Society for Social Work and Research Symposium
Session Name: Addressing disparities in Access to COVID-19 testing via community Health workers lead culturally grounded intervention in Southwest
Presenters: Dr. Hyunsung Oh
August 10, 2022
United Way Health Action Coalition Meeting
Session Name: Addressing healthcare barriers with a community-University led response to COVID-19 in AZ.
Presenters: Dr. Flavio Marsiglia and Christine McCaleb
January 11-15, 2023
27th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Symposium
Session Name: Addressing disparities in Access to COVID-19 testing via community Health workers lead culturally grounded intervention in Southwest
Presenters:
• Marsiglia F. (2023, Jan 13). A Culturally Grounded Intervention with Vulnerable and Underserved Communities of the Southwest U.S. to Reduce COVID- 19-Related Health Disparities.
• Hernandez C., Gonzalez E., Maldonado A.M. (2023, Jan 13). Achieving Health Equity: The Role of Community Health Workers in Latinx Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Arizona.
• Liu L. (2023, Jan 13). Evolution of COVID-19 Health Disparities in Arizona.
• Oh H., De La Rosa K. (2023, Jan 13). Profiles of Culturally Grounded Intervention Participants Developed to Address Disparities in Access to COVID-19 Testing.
May 3, 2023
CDCC RADxUP Scientific Meeting
Community Health Workers as Bridges to Increase COVID-19 Health Equity in Latinx Communities of the Southwest U.S.
Presenters: Campos A.P., Hernandez C.
May 7, 2023
Yonsei University, lecture
Breaking Barriers: Delivering Culturally Competent COVID 19 Testing Where and When the Community Needs It
Presenter: Oh, H.
May 30-June 2, 2023
Society of Prevention Research 31st Annual Meeting
Session name: Exploring the Experiences of Latin American Asylum Seekers Who Participated in a Culturally Grounded Promotoras-Led COVID-19 Testing Intervention
Presenter: Marsiglia F.
June 1st, 2023
Society of Prevention Research Special Issue Symposium, roundtable
Session name: International Committee Special Session: International Responses to Prevention
Session number: 3-054
Presenter: Marsiglia, F., Oh, H.
June 25-July 1, 2023
XX ISA World Congress of Sociology
Session name: Community Health Workers addressing the unmet COVID-19 needs of community.
Presenters: Marsiglia F., Kulis. S.
September 8, 2023
Arizona Health Equity Conference Virtual Poster
Session name: A community-university efforts to eliminate disparities in accessing COVID-19 testing
Presenter: Oh H.
November 13, 2023
American Public Health Association Conference, roundtable
Abstract: Community health workers-led model to increase health equity in latinx communities of the southwest u.s.
Presenter: Oh H.
January 10-14, 2024
SSWR 28th Annual Conference
Economic Connectedness As a Metric of Bridging Social Ties and Its Association with COVID-19 Infections in Arizona
Presenter: Maria Boby
• Keywords: COVID-19, Health disparity, Population health, Community Health Workers