Clinical Research Directory
Browse clinical research sites, groups, and studies.
Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda
Sponsor: Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)
Summary
Partners In Health (PIH), in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, aims to develop and evaluate an SMS-based intervention for Community Health Workers (CHWs) to combat COVID-19 and mental health-related misinformation in Haiti, Rwanda, and Malawi. The study involves three aims: identifying locally relevant misinformation through a card-sorting exercise with CHWs, developing targeted messages through cognitive interviewing, and evaluating the effectiveness of SMS-based educational message dissemination via a randomized controlled trial. The evaluation will assess the impact on public health practices, knowledge and attitudes among CHWs, and knowledge and attitudes among community members.
Official title: Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
5109
Start Date
2023-11-27
Completion Date
2025-01-31
Last Updated
2024-06-24
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design)
Study team members within each country will free list misinformation or misconceptions that they commonly encounter in clinical practice or daily life. Each item will be used to create paired cards - one containing the misinformation and a second containing the corresponding correct information. During qualitative interviews, we will ask CHWs to participate in a series of card sorting activities, which is a participatory research method that can inform the design of health interventions.
SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design)
A two-person team consisting of one local communication expert and one clinician will draft clinically correct, easy-to-understand SMS messages designed to counter identified misinformation. We will draft messages that use various styles and use cognitive interviewing with CHWs to assess their understanding of and responses to each style. The final messages used in our intervention will be determined by CHW preference.
SMS Messaging
Final messages will be sent via SMS to all CHWs working in our study area. CHWs will also be provided with contact information for a helpline staffed by a local team member who can answer follow-up questions in the local language.
Locations (3)
Zanmi Lasante
Cangé, Haiti
Partners in Health- Malawi
Neno, Malawi
Partners in Health- Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda