Leveraging community engaged research partnerships for crisis and emergency risk communication to vulnerable populations in the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: Journal of Clinical and Translational Science Vol. 5; no. 1; p. e6
• Main Authors: Wieland, Mark L, Asiedu, Gladys B, Lantz, Kiley, Abbenyi, Adeline, Njeru, Jane W, Osman, Ahmed, Goodson, Miriam, Ahmed, Yahye, Molina, Luz E, Doubeni, Chyke A, Sia, Irene G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Cambridge University Press 01.01.2021
• Subjects: community-engaged research; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Credibility; Decision making; Empowerment; Expedited Report; immigrant health; Implementation, Policy and Community Engagement; Minority & ethnic groups; Pandemics; Social networks; Social organization; Text messaging; COVID-19; immigrant health; community-engaged research
• ISSN: 2059-8661; 2059-8661
• DOI: 10.1017/cts.2020.47

Community engagement is important for reaching vulnerable populations in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A risk communication framework was implemented by a community-engaged research (CEnR) partnership in Southeast Minnesota to address COVID-19 prevention, testing, and socioeconomic impacts. Bidirectional communication between Communication Leaders and community members within their social networks was used by the partnership to refine messages, leverage resources, and advise policy makers. Over 14 days, messages were delivered by 24 Communication Leaders in 6 languages across 9 electronic platforms to 9882 individuals within their networks. CEnR partnerships may effectively implement crisis and emergency risk communication to vulnerable populations in a pandemic.