671 - Household Vaccination Status and Willingness to Engage in COVID-19 Testing and Screening Among Rural Migrant Households

Sunday, April 30, 2023

3:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

Poster Number: 671
Publication Number: 671.318

James M. McCluskey, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Russell J. McCulloh, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Ellen K. Kerns, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Mara J. Broadhurst, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Chad Abresch, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Jonathan M. Figliomeni, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Ricky Flores, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Bellevue, NE, United States; Nicholas Robert. Reynolds, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Adrien C. Honcoop, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha, NE, United States; Alice I. Sato, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha, NE, United States

Presenting Author(s)

JM

James M. McCluskey, III, MD (he/him/his)

House Officer
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted migrant and minority populations. In Nebraska, the NIH-funded Mobile Health for Migrant Health (mHealth-4-Mhealth) program was established to address disparities in access to at-home COVID-19 testing and health decision-making.

Objective: To identify factors contributing to adoption of at-home COVID-19 testing among Nebraska migrant families enrolled in mHealth-4-Mhealth.

Design/Methods: mHealth-4-Mhealth provides migrant families with symptom and risk-based screening and guidance for at-home COVID-19 testing via mHealth tools. Migrant families were enrolled through recommended and self-referral in collaboration with the Nebraska Migrant Education Program (MEP). Participating families were asked to perform COVID-19 exposure, symptom, and infection risk screening weekly. Participants completed surveys on demographics and health-seeking behaviors using the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics in Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) common data elements. All individuals enrolled in the study were assigned surveys; results were then summarized at the household level. The primary outcomes were household performance of symptom screening, performance of COVID-19 testing when prompted, and proportion of households that submitted test results through the mHealth-4-Mhealth program. Outcomes were compared based on household member receipt of COVID-19 vaccine.

Results:

Enrollment began February 2022 and is ongoing. To date, a total of 138 participants, 120 of whom are primarily Spanish speaking, from 36 households have enrolled (Table 1). A total of 20 (56%) households had at least one participant complete the RADx-UP COVID-19 Vaccine Survey. Average weekly screens per household was 1.7 (SD 0.9). We found that households with no history of COVID-19 vaccination performed symptom/risk screening nearly twice as often as households with one or more participants vaccinated. Testing behaviors between households with a history of COVID-19 vaccination and those that had not been vaccinated did not differ (Table 2).

Conclusion(s): Families on average performed regular COVID-19 symptom/risk screening and testing in the mHealth-4-Mhealth program, suggesting willingness to adopt these behaviors. Screening behaviors differed by household vaccination status, which may represent differences in perceived susceptibility to infection. Our findings suggest that the motivations behind the decisions to vaccinate and to engage in screening/testing for COVID-19 may be related. These findings may inform public health interventions intended to address future outbreaks in similar communities.