Close up photo of person holding positive COVID-19 test
Coronavirus Infected Swab Test Sample in Doctor Hands. COVID-19 Epidemic and Virus Outbreak.

“Use of Community Sentinels to Study Public Compliance of COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors”

It became clear early in the COVID-19 pandemic that communities were differentially impacted by COVID-19, and that novel methodological approaches were needed in order to better identify and understand the experiences of the most vulnerable individuals.

To further explore this issue, the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) will host a talk titled “Use of Community Sentinels to Study Public Compliance of COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors” in the next installment of its seminar series.

Led by Meredith Goodwin, Laura Fernandez, Janet McGrath, Andrew Curtis and Elaine Borawski, this presentation will cover the use of community members to provide bi-weekly sentinel reports on perceived neighborhood responses to COVID (e.g., retail and restaurant opening/closing, and neighborhood activity) and observable public compliance with mitigation behaviors (e.g., mask-wearing and social distancing). Three distinct data collection methods were used to gain an on-the-ground understanding of community COVID-related responses and community members’ views on how COVID impacted their lives and the lives of those around them. Results across eight Cleveland neighborhoods will show how observations, adaptation strategies and perceptions of risk varied and changed over time with the course of the pandemic.

This discussion will be held Wednesday, Nov. 10, at noon via Zoom.

This seminar is co-sponsored by the Community and Collaboration Core of the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative at CWRU.

PRCHN’s seminars feature presentations by researchers and partners focused on community-engaged work that aims to improve health in historically underserved communities. All community members and organizations and Case Western Reserve University staff, faculty, and students are welcome to register to attend.

Register for the talk.