Supporting COVID-19 Prevention and Testing for Marginalized and Minoritized Youth and Young Adults

This project used a geographically diverse quantitative survey to assess patterns and disparities in COVID-19 testing and preventive behaviors longitudinally across 6 months, as well as the impact of multilevel factors, including stigma and policy. Informed by the results of this survey, and guided by the Information, Motivation, and Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model, a mixed-methods approach was used to iteratively develop a community engaged, health messaging intervention tailored towards SGMY and REMY to increase testing and preventive behaviors, provisionally titled Prev_Cvd. This text messaging intervention was pilot tested by 100 REMY and SGMY to refine content and determine feasibility and acceptability. Given the lack of messaging guidelines for this population, this was the first evidence-based messaging intervention for COVID-19 prevention among YYA. Developing and pilot testing such an intervention with active input from the community will allow for the intervention, if effective, to be rapidly scaled up and widely implemented to address disparities in COVID-19 among YYA and reduce overall transmission.