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Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders
BACKGROUND: In November 2020, WA Notify, Washington State’s COVID-19 digital exposure notification tool, was launched statewide to mitigate ongoing COVID-19 transmission. WA Notify uses the Bluetooth proximity–triggered, Google/Apple Exposure Notification Express framework to distribute notification...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9359117/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35787520 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38193 |
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author | Bonnell, Tyler Jarvis Revere, Debra Baseman, Janet Hills, Rebecca Karras, Bryant Thomas |
author_facet | Bonnell, Tyler Jarvis Revere, Debra Baseman, Janet Hills, Rebecca Karras, Bryant Thomas |
author_sort | Bonnell, Tyler Jarvis |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: In November 2020, WA Notify, Washington State’s COVID-19 digital exposure notification tool, was launched statewide to mitigate ongoing COVID-19 transmission. WA Notify uses the Bluetooth proximity–triggered, Google/Apple Exposure Notification Express framework to distribute notifications to users who have added or activated this tool on their smartphones. This smartphone-based tool relies on sufficient population-level activation to be effective; however, little is known about its adoption among communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or what barriers might limit its adoption and use among diverse populations. OBJECTIVE: We sought to (1) conduct a formative exploration of equity-related issues that may influence the access, adoption, and use of WA Notify, as perceived by community leaders of populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) generate recommendations for promoting the equitable access to and impact of this novel intervention for these communities. METHODS: We used a 2-step data collection process to gather the perspectives of community leaders across Washington regarding the launch and implementation of WA Notify in their communities. A web-based, brief, and informational survey measured the perceptions of the community-level familiarity and effectiveness of WA Notify at slowing the spread of COVID-19 and identified potential barriers and concerns to accessing and adopting WA Notify (n=17). Semistructured listening sessions were conducted to expand upon survey findings and explore the community-level awareness, barriers, facilitators, and concerns related to activating WA Notify in greater depth (n=13). RESULTS: Our findings overlap considerably with those from previous mobile health equity studies. Digital literacy, trust, information accessibility, and misinformation were highlighted as key determinants of the adoption and use of WA Notify. Although WA Notify does not track users or share data, community leaders expressed concerns about security, data sharing, and personal privacy, which were cited as outweighing the potential benefits to adoption. Both the survey and informational sessions indicated low community-level awareness of WA Notify. Community leaders recommended the following approaches to improve engagement: tailoring informational materials for low-literacy levels, providing technology navigation, describing more clearly that WA Notify can help the community, and using trusted messengers who are already engaged with the communities to communicate about WA Notify. CONCLUSIONS: As digital public health tools, such as WA Notify, emerge to address public health problems, understanding the key determinants of adoption and incorporating equity-focused recommendations into the development, implementation, and communication efforts around these tools will be instrumental to their adoption, use, and retention. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9359117 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93591172022-08-10 Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders Bonnell, Tyler Jarvis Revere, Debra Baseman, Janet Hills, Rebecca Karras, Bryant Thomas JMIR Form Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: In November 2020, WA Notify, Washington State’s COVID-19 digital exposure notification tool, was launched statewide to mitigate ongoing COVID-19 transmission. WA Notify uses the Bluetooth proximity–triggered, Google/Apple Exposure Notification Express framework to distribute notifications to users who have added or activated this tool on their smartphones. This smartphone-based tool relies on sufficient population-level activation to be effective; however, little is known about its adoption among communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or what barriers might limit its adoption and use among diverse populations. OBJECTIVE: We sought to (1) conduct a formative exploration of equity-related issues that may influence the access, adoption, and use of WA Notify, as perceived by community leaders of populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) generate recommendations for promoting the equitable access to and impact of this novel intervention for these communities. METHODS: We used a 2-step data collection process to gather the perspectives of community leaders across Washington regarding the launch and implementation of WA Notify in their communities. A web-based, brief, and informational survey measured the perceptions of the community-level familiarity and effectiveness of WA Notify at slowing the spread of COVID-19 and identified potential barriers and concerns to accessing and adopting WA Notify (n=17). Semistructured listening sessions were conducted to expand upon survey findings and explore the community-level awareness, barriers, facilitators, and concerns related to activating WA Notify in greater depth (n=13). RESULTS: Our findings overlap considerably with those from previous mobile health equity studies. Digital literacy, trust, information accessibility, and misinformation were highlighted as key determinants of the adoption and use of WA Notify. Although WA Notify does not track users or share data, community leaders expressed concerns about security, data sharing, and personal privacy, which were cited as outweighing the potential benefits to adoption. Both the survey and informational sessions indicated low community-level awareness of WA Notify. Community leaders recommended the following approaches to improve engagement: tailoring informational materials for low-literacy levels, providing technology navigation, describing more clearly that WA Notify can help the community, and using trusted messengers who are already engaged with the communities to communicate about WA Notify. CONCLUSIONS: As digital public health tools, such as WA Notify, emerge to address public health problems, understanding the key determinants of adoption and incorporating equity-focused recommendations into the development, implementation, and communication efforts around these tools will be instrumental to their adoption, use, and retention. JMIR Publications 2022-08-03 /pmc/articles/PMC9359117/ /pubmed/35787520 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38193 Text en ©Tyler Jarvis Bonnell, Debra Revere, Janet Baseman, Rebecca Hills, Bryant Thomas Karras. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 03.08.2022. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Bonnell, Tyler Jarvis Revere, Debra Baseman, Janet Hills, Rebecca Karras, Bryant Thomas Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title | Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title_full | Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title_fullStr | Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title_full_unstemmed | Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title_short | Equity and Accessibility of Washington State’s COVID-19 Digital Exposure Notification Tool (WA Notify): Survey and Listening Sessions Among Community Leaders |
title_sort | equity and accessibility of washington state’s covid-19 digital exposure notification tool (wa notify): survey and listening sessions among community leaders |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9359117/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35787520 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38193 |
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