Evaluating Public Health Interventions to Improve COVID-19 Testing Among Underserved Populations

NCT ID: NCT05270694

Last Updated: 2025-04-16

Study Results

Results available

Outcome measurements, participant flow, baseline characteristics, and adverse events have been published for this study.

View full results

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

102 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-04-13

Study Completion Date

2023-11-08

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people from underserved and vulnerable populations such as low-income/uninsured, unhoused, and immigrant communities. These populations in the US are at a higher risk of acquiring COVID-19 because of poverty, type of occupation, greater use of public transit, living in multigenerational housing, lack of access to quality healthcare, and more. Despite greater risk of being infected and dying of COVID-19, those in disadvantaged communities are less likely to get tested. The investigators are collaborating with community partners in Cumberland County, Maine to implement a public health intervention focused on making COVID-19 testing more accessible to underserved populations. The intervention includes a one-time in-person training on how to take an at-home COVID-19 test and then provision of at-home COVID-19 testing kits to make testing more accessible. Five testing kits are provided at the time of training and then provided every two months for a year, for a total of 35 testing kits.

In this study, the investigators will evaluate the impact of the at-home testing kit intervention on COVID-19 testing behavior, knowledge and attitudes. The investigators will accomplish this aim by following a community cohort, with a goal of recruiting 150 participants - 15 participants from each of our 10 population groups of interest (three groups that access different health services for low-income/uninsured, unhoused individuals, and six different immigrant groups). The investigators will administer surveys to the cohort participants every month over a 12 month period. Every month the survey will ask about testing behavior, and every other month the survey will also ask about knowledge and attitudes towards testing. In order to ensure access to COVID-19 tests, the cohort participants will be provided at-home testing kits throughout the course of the study. The primary outcome of interest is "recommended testing behavior," which is defined as taking a rapid COVID-19 test when experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or after a close contact exposure.

The investigators hypothesize that knowledge about testing, favorable attitudes towards testing, and recommended testing behavior will increase as a result of participation in the study.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

COVID-19

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

150 participants will be enrolled into the cohort, with 15 participants from each of the 10 specific populations of interest (3 groups that access different health services for low-income/uninsured, unhoused individuals, and 6 different immigrant groups)
Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

COVID-19 Testing

The cohort participants will attend an in-person training on how to take an at-home COVID-19 test and also be provided with five at-home test kits at the training and every other month for a total of 35 kits over the course of a year.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Public Health Intervention Package

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The intervention package consists of two components:

1. At the time of study enrollment, participants will attend an in-person training on how to properly take an at-home COVID-19 test. Study staff will verbally walk through the steps of the test with the participant while the participant administers the test on themselves, with the opportunity to ask questions and receive corrective feedback, as needed.
2. To make COVID-19 testing more accessible, participants will be provided five at-home COVID-19 testing kits at the training and then every other month throughout the course of the year-long study for a total of 35 kits.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Public Health Intervention Package

The intervention package consists of two components:

1. At the time of study enrollment, participants will attend an in-person training on how to properly take an at-home COVID-19 test. Study staff will verbally walk through the steps of the test with the participant while the participant administers the test on themselves, with the opportunity to ask questions and receive corrective feedback, as needed.
2. To make COVID-19 testing more accessible, participants will be provided five at-home COVID-19 testing kits at the training and then every other month throughout the course of the year-long study for a total of 35 kits.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Individual accesses services from one of these three public health facilities - community free clinic, needle exchange program, or STD clinic
* Individual is currently unhoused or living in a Housing First development
* Individual immigrated to the US, primarily from one of these six country groups - Somalia, Angola, Iraq or Syria, Burundi or Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, or a country in Latin America

Exclusion Criteria

• Individual is \<18 years old
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

MaineHealth

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Kathleen Fairfield

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Kathleen Fairfield

Physician Scientist, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Public Health & Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine

Responsibility Role SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Kathleen Fairfield, MD, DrPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

MaineHealth

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Greater Portland Health

Portland, Maine, United States

Site Status

Portland Community Free Clinic

Portland, Maine, United States

Site Status

Preble Street Learning Collaborative

Portland, Maine, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Clark E, Fredricks K, Woc-Colburn L, Bottazzi ME, Weatherhead J. Disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrant communities in the United States. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Jul 13;14(7):e0008484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008484. eCollection 2020 Jul. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32658925 (View on PubMed)

Laurencin CT, McClinton A. The COVID-19 Pandemic: a Call to Action to Identify and Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2020 Jun;7(3):398-402. doi: 10.1007/s40615-020-00756-0. Epub 2020 Apr 18.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32306369 (View on PubMed)

Nayak A, Islam SJ, Mehta A, Ko YA, Patel SA, Goyal A, Sullivan S, Lewis TT, Vaccarino V, Morris AA, Quyyumi AA. Impact of Social Vulnerability on COVID-19 Incidence and Outcomes in the United States. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2020 Apr 17:2020.04.10.20060962. doi: 10.1101/2020.04.10.20060962.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32511437 (View on PubMed)

Price-Haywood EG, Burton J, Fort D, Seoane L. Hospitalization and Mortality among Black Patients and White Patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2020 Jun 25;382(26):2534-2543. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa2011686. Epub 2020 May 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32459916 (View on PubMed)

Sy KTL, Martinez ME, Rader B, White LF. Socioeconomic Disparities in Subway Use and COVID-19 Outcomes in New York City. Am J Epidemiol. 2021 Jul 1;190(7):1234-1242. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwaa277.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33372209 (View on PubMed)

Moore JT, Ricaldi JN, Rose CE, Fuld J, Parise M, Kang GJ, Driscoll AK, Norris T, Wilson N, Rainisch G, Valverde E, Beresovsky V, Agnew Brune C, Oussayef NL, Rose DA, Adams LE, Awel S, Villanueva J, Meaney-Delman D, Honein MA; COVID-19 State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Response Team. Disparities in Incidence of COVID-19 Among Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Groups in Counties Identified as Hotspots During June 5-18, 2020 - 22 States, February-June 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 Aug 21;69(33):1122-1126. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6933e1.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32817602 (View on PubMed)

Millett GA, Jones AT, Benkeser D, Baral S, Mercer L, Beyrer C, Honermann B, Lankiewicz E, Mena L, Crowley JS, Sherwood J, Sullivan PS. Assessing differential impacts of COVID-19 on black communities. Ann Epidemiol. 2020 Jul;47:37-44. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.05.003. Epub 2020 May 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32419766 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Download supplemental materials such as informed consent forms, study protocols, or participant manuals.

Document Type: Study Protocol, Statistical Analysis Plan, and Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

1795294

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.