The SINCERE Intervention to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities

Purpose

The goal of this real world efficacy study is to understand the benefit of universal social needs screening, community-based service referrals, and telephonic follow-up as a scalable strategy for preventing COVID-19 transmission, and for addressing the secondary health effects of the social, behavioral, and economic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. With statewide community service providers, existing health information technology, and piloted methods, we seek to determine the effectiveness of universal social needs screening and community service referrals - the SINCERE intervention - in improving health outcomes of COVID-19 vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and whether intensive follow-up and collaborative goal-setting helps overcome barriers to community service use by patients seen in the emergency department and seeking COVID testing at community-based and mobile clinic locations.

Conditions

  • COVID-19
  • Vulnerable Populations
  • Social Determinants of Health

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • Adult (> 17 years) - English or Spanish speaking - Completed the referral process at the UHealth ED, one of the COVID-19 testing sites or the Primary Children's ED and indicated both social needs and willingness to receive service low- and no-cost referrals from the United Way 211 community referral service - Able to be reached by phone during the intervention OR able to complete surveys sent by text or email

Exclusion Criteria

  • Those unable to communicate verbally - Those living in nursing facilities, or those who are not otherwise responsible for self-care

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Health Services Research
Masking
Single (Care Provider)
Masking Description
Services to which participants are referred will not be aware of the participant's inclusion in the research study or their study arm.

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Active Comparator
Call + Resources 		Participants receive standard care typically provided to 211 callers, including ad hoc follow-up.
  • Behavioral: SINCERE
    Each goal setting session will involve templated prompts in 211's ServicePoint to guide the creation of a patient-centered "action plan" specifying what, when, how much, and how often patients will engage in a behavior (e.g., "I will work on filling out eligibility paperwork for 30 minutes on Wednesday evening"). Again, following clear prompts, ISs negotiate the "action plan" with patients until patients can rate their level of confidence for achieving this behavior a 7 on a scale from 0 to 10.
  • Behavioral: Scheduled Follow-Up
    Adding to the standard Call + Resources protocol, those assigned to scheduled follow-up will receive a proactive call from 211 every 2 weeks for 3 months to explore additional service needs. These calls will be unstructured, guided by participant requests and 211 IS prompts.
  • Other: Standard of Care
    211 ISs contact referred patients, provide referral services, and follow up in an ad-hoc manner.
Experimental
Call + Resources + Scheduled Follow-Up 		Participants receive standard care typically provided to 211 callers plus scheduled follow-up calls according to the Scheduled Follow-Up intervention description.
  • Behavioral: Scheduled Follow-Up
    Adding to the standard Call + Resources protocol, those assigned to scheduled follow-up will receive a proactive call from 211 every 2 weeks for 3 months to explore additional service needs. These calls will be unstructured, guided by participant requests and 211 IS prompts.
Experimental
Call + Resources + SINCERE 		Participants receive standard care typically provided to 211 callers plus scheduled follow-up calls according to the SINCERE intervention description (scheduled follow up with active collaborative goal setting).
  • Behavioral: SINCERE
    Each goal setting session will involve templated prompts in 211's ServicePoint to guide the creation of a patient-centered "action plan" specifying what, when, how much, and how often patients will engage in a behavior (e.g., "I will work on filling out eligibility paperwork for 30 minutes on Wednesday evening"). Again, following clear prompts, ISs negotiate the "action plan" with patients until patients can rate their level of confidence for achieving this behavior a 7 on a scale from 0 to 10.

Recruiting Locations

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Contact:
Andrea Wallace, PhD
801-585-9647
andrea.wallace@nurs.utah.edu

More Details

NCT ID
NCT05228886
Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Andrea Wallace

Study Contact

Ernest Grigorian
801-707-2775
ernest.grigorian@utah.edu