COVID-19 Health Messaging to Underserved Communities

Summary

Recent data have shown that covid19 is disproportionately infecting and killing African Americans and Latinx people in the United States. The aim of the study is to determine which messages are most effective at increasing knowledge and changing behaviors that can protect individuals and their communities from the virus. To accomplish this aim, we plan to recruit approximately 20,000 Hispanic and African-American individuals and randomly assign them to videos that vary either the sender or the framing of the message, while providing the relevant public health information.

Conditions

• Coronavirus

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Messaging

o The video messages each participant in one of the treatment groups sees will be randomized on the following dimensions. The different versions are clearly demarcated in the US Doctors Scripts document. * Racial or ethnic identity of the doctor delivering the messages: concordant vs. discordant identity to the subject. * Whether the message includes an acknowledgment of "elephant in the room" issues for each target group: trust in the medical system or fear of deportation. * Whether the social distancing component of the message is delivered by Dr. Birx of the CDC or recorded by the MGH physicians. * Whether individuals are given information about how representative individuals perceive mask wearers of color. This information comes from results of our nationally representative pilot survey. * Some individuals in a control group will see messages later.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Massachusetts General Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Stanford University

  collaborator OTHER

• Yale University

  collaborator OTHER

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  collaborator OTHER

• Harvard University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-05-13

Primary Completion

2020-05-24

Completion

2020-05-26

Countries

• United States

Study Locations