Community-based Design and Evaluation of A Conversational Agent to Promote SARS-COV2 Vaccination in Black Churches

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

The objective of this study is to assess the use of and satisfaction with the ECA intervention over a 12-month period, its ability to increase SARS-CoV-2 and influenza vaccination in the BMATP community, and the comparative effectiveness of proactive engagement strategies and cultural tailoring on these factors. The Investigators will assess app use and satisfaction among these participants, along with self-reported vaccination attitudes and behavior, at 6 months and 12 months. During this time the investigators will conduct a 2x2 factorial RCT (with the individual the unit of random assignment and measurement) to assess the impact of two app design features on engagement and outcomes: (1) the investigators will manipulate engagement mechanisms (ENGAGEMENT), including reminder notifications and trust-building dialogue by the ECA and, (2) independently manipulate cultural tailoring of vaccination promotion counseling language used by the agent (TAILORING) to either adaptive religiosity (tailored) or secular (non-tailored). The investigators' primary hypotheses are that participants with have significantly greater vaccination completion rates in the high engagement and tailored conditions at 6 months (H1) and 12 months (H2) compared to other conditions. The investigators' secondary hypotheses are that participants will use the app more, be more satisfied with the ECA, be more advanced in their stage of change, and have greater knowledge, self-efficacy, and decisional-balance from baseline to 6 and 12 months, in the high engagement and tailored conditions. In addition to the RCT participants, all members of the 12 participating BMATP churches will be invited to use the app (via snowball recruitment), to increase the utility of the social networking functions of the app by having as many users as possible.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• over 18 years old;

• speaks English fluently;

• is able to independently consent;

• has adequate corrected vision to use the ECA system (based on a 1 minute ECA functional screener deployed over the web);

• has adequate hearing to use the ECA system;

• owns a recent model iPhone or Android smartphone.

• do not meet current Boston Public Health commission guidelines for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination OR do not meet current Boston Public Health commission guidelines for Influenza vaccination.

Locations
United States
Massachusetts
Northeastern University
RECRUITING
Boston
Contact Information
Primary
Madison Blain, OTD
m.blain@northeastern.edu
(617) 858-6727‬
Backup
Timothy W Bickmore, PhD
t.bickmore@northeastern.edu
617-373-5477
Time Frame
Start Date: 2022-12-12
Estimated Completion Date: 2025-12-01
Participants
Target number of participants: 600
Treatments
Experimental: High engagement mechanisms, tailed content
During this time the investigators will conduct a 2x2 factorial RCT (with the individual the unit of random assignment and measurement) to assess the impact of two app design features on engagement and outcomes: (1) the investigators will manipulate engagement mechanisms (ENGAGEMENT), including reminder notifications and trust-building dialogue by the ECA and, (2) independently manipulate cultural tailoring of vaccination promotion counseling language used by the agent (TAILORING) to either adaptive religiosity (tailored) or secular (non-tailored). The investigators' primary hypotheses are that participants with have significantly greater vaccination completion rates in the high engagement and tailored conditions at 6 months (H1) and 12 months (H2) compared to other conditions.
Experimental: Low engagement mechanisms, tailed content
manipulate low engagement mechanisms while provide adaptive religiosity (tailored) content
Experimental: High engagement mechanism, non-tailed content
manipulate high engagement mechanisms while provide secular (non-tailored) content
Experimental: Low engagement mechanism, non-tailed content
manipulate low engagement mechanisms and provide secular (non-tailored) content
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Georgia Institute of Technology
Leads: Northeastern University

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov