Tailored Behavioral Intervention to Prevent Household and Community Spread of COVID-19 among Latinos

Project Summary/Abstract The United States currently has the highest COVID-19 infection and related mortality rates in the world. In California, Latinos account for the highest percent of COVID-19 cases (58.9%) and deaths (47.3%) and are disproportionately represented in occupations deemed as ‘essential’. Latinos also suffer from higher rates of poverty and chronic disease which places them at greater risk of COVID-19 infection and related complications. In collaboration with Family Health Centers of SD (FHCSD) and working with Community Health Workers (aka, promotores/as), we will implement a tailored intervention to reduce household- and community- spread of COVID-19 among Latinos. Households of recently diagnosed Latino adults (n=256 households) will be randomized to one of two groups: 1) Standard-of-Care comparison group, 2) COVID-19 promotor/a Intervention, who will receive standard of care plus tailored counseling delivered by promotores/as. This project will test the immediate, mid-term, and long-term efficacy of the promotor/a intervention to prevent household and community spread of COVID-19. In addition, we will test the efficacy of the proposed intervention on short- and long-term behavioral, mental, and physical health outcomes. This study aims to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in a population that has exceptionally high rates of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. We will harness our research team’s extensive experience in developing multi-level interventions working with promotores/as to promote behavior change among Latinos, and leverage a strong community-academic collaboration that maximizes community impact and sustainability. This research will lead to the development of sustainable and scalable community-academic models designed to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to both this existing and future public health threats.