The Center Disease Control has published a set of guidelines to contain the spread of the virus, since it is known to spread from person-to-person. Given the vaccine and specific antiviral treatment for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remain under development and will take months or years to develop, intermittent and sustained preventive behaviors may be needed into 2022 unless effective treatments or vaccines are developed. Thus, effectively implementing preventive behaviors remains a critical step in bringing the pandemic under long-term control. Leveraging the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) method developed in the parent R01 for smartphones, which allows for real-time data collection on individual's behaviors, the investigators propose a prospective single arm and longitudinal study to examine the effectiveness of self-monitoring EMA (SM-EMA) in promoting adherence to COVID-19 preventative behaviors. SM-EMA users will download the smartphone app which includes: (1) instructional videos to provide knowledge of preventative behaviors; (2) self-monitoring of preventative behaviors during intervention and follow-up phases; (3) tailored-feedback messages to encourage preventative behaviors; and (4) mobile-enabled website to provide an interactive learning platform. If proven efficacious, this intervention could be efficiently disseminated to reach the larger public and foster preventive behaviors into self-management as effective strategies for long-term control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given the vaccine and specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 will take months or years to
develop and finalize, preventive behaviors remain the most effective strategy thus far and
may be needed until 2022 to control the pandemic. African Americans, who have 3-fold higher
infection rate and 6-fold higher death rate compared to the white counterparts, are an
especially vulnerable population to COVID-19. Immediately initiating a project that promotes
and maximizes adherence to preventative behaviors is vital to addressing the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic. The investigators propose a prospective single arm and longitudinal study to
examine the effectiveness of SM-EMA in promoting adherence to COVID-19 preventative
behaviors. The intervention will include two daily pop-up messages during Week 1 (one in the
morning and one in the afternoon), one daily pop-message in Week 2, and two pop-up messages a
week in Weeks 3 and 4. The duration for the intervention will be four weeks. The study
outcomes will be collected at baseline (pre-intervention, T1), post-(completion of the
intervention, T2, primary endpoint), and monthly follow-up for three months (T3-T5). The
total study duration will be four months.
Behavioral: Sm-EMA
Self-monitoring ecological momentary assessment behavior change tool to promote adherence to a desired behavior (i.e. COVID-19 preventative behaviors).
Inclusion Criteria:
- African American aged 60 or older
- Able to read and write English
- Willing to commit to use the smartphone app with the pop-up messages and then four
follow-up surveys (total four months).
Exclusion Criteria:
- No children or others aged 59 years or younger
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Chao Hsing Yeh, PhD, Principal Investigator
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing