Covid 19: Kentucky Strengthening Vaccine Confidence in Workers: Scope: COVIDVTF

Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program Vaccine Task Force Supplement Strengthen Vaccine Confidence in Workers Scope of Work From January 1, 2021- August 3, 2021, there were 16,906 long-term care resident COVID-19 cases, and 12,544 long-term care staff cases; deaths numbered 2,222 resident deaths and 13 staff member deaths, with 408 facilities impacted (https://covidtracking.com/data/state/kentucky/long-term-care#- 84.87032991776465,36.677213442333795,4.626992127286515). The Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program (KOSHS) is proposing to utilize the Vaccine Task Force (VTF) supplement to identify vaccination rates and hesitancy among employees who care for the most vulnerable population for COVID 19…Long Term Care residents. In recent discussions with the Kentucky Department of Public Health, it was suggested that the traditional methods of improving vaccination rates are not working in the long-term care facility employee group. This goal of this proposal is to adopt a mixed-methods approach to understand the hesitancy among this population and to develop appropriate strategies and materials to assist in increasing vaccination rates. Activities: Our KOSHS VTF program will perform the following activities: 1. In collaboration with the Kentucky Department of Public Health, we will identify and document current COVID-19 data collection strategies including COVID-19 vaccination status, and COVID-19 exposure mitigation strategies required and recommended in the long-term care industry. In addition, we will work with the Kentucky Department of Public Health to identify the optimal survey communication methods to the workers in this industry. The Kentucky Department for Public Health will collaborate with us on obtaining the list of long-term care facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 2. Utilizing NIOSH resources and literature review, and in collaboration with NIOSH, we will develop a semi-structured interview guide. The guide will be used to complete 6-8 semi- structured interviews to provide background for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy survey in REDCap. The semi-structured interviews will be coded and analyzed using NVivo 1.0. The interviews will explore workers’ vaccination status, perspective on vaccinations, visitation policies, hospital transfer policies, and the reasons for the perspective (both positive and negative). 3. Based on the interview results, the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy survey will be developed. We will validate the survey through focus group usability testing with long- term care industry stakeholders. 4. The survey will be disseminated in long-term care facilities to explore vaccination status, perspective on vaccinations, and the reasons for the perspective (both positive and negative), and, if applicable, how they are collecting this information. 5. The KOSHS VTF supplement will analyze the survey results and produce a long-term care specific profile on COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy. We will use this information in collaboration with NIOSH to develop communications, education and trainings to assist employers to reduce vaccine hesitancy in long-term care facilities. 6. The industry sector specific profiles on COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy will be disseminated by the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center’s communication director, and the KOSHS Communication and Translation plan will be expanded to include the Vaccine Task Force Supplement. Timeline for activities: August 2021 Seek IRB approval; Collaborate with Kentucky Department of Public Health on optimal communication methods and identification of Long Term Care facilities. September 2021 Develop semi-structured interview guide Research Strategy Page 29 October 2021 Conduct semi-structured interviews November 2021 Utilize analysis of semi-structured interviews to develop survey and conduct usability testing December - March 2021 Survey administration April and May 2022 Survey data analysis and development of long-term care specific profile on COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy June 2022 Dissemination of profile Page 30