Peer public health ambassadors and COVID-19 mitigating behaviors at a public university

Abstract

Objective

To examine how public health policy was reinforced by peer workers who were called Public Health Ambassadors (PHAs) at a West Coast university during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Descriptions of PHA community interactions were collected. Analyses were conducted using data from the 12-weeks of the 2020 Fall Quarter.

Results

In total, there were 5,112 interactions of which there were three types: (1) educational (4%), (2) noncompliance (90%), and (3) thanking (6%). About 1.3% of interactions were met with resistance.

Conclusions

Overall, compliance with campus public health guidance was high. Trends suggest compliance fatigue may have occurred after the first four weeks as evidenced by increased noncompliance rates and test positivity rates.

Policy Implications

These results suggest the feasibility of the implementing US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations of using trusted messengers to reinforce critical behaviors to support community health.

Keywords:

• Community health
• public health
• peer workers
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the excellent assistance of the program’s data team: Roshni Desai, Paola Daniela Diaz, Connor Ronald Jow, Kristie Ellie Tjen, Farha Shaygan, Traci Shiu, Estelle Yoo, Sharon Vien, and Renee Meade. The authors would also like to thank the Public Health Ambassador supervisor team and the students who served as Public Health Ambassadors to help the campus safely through the pandemic.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America. The research was deemed not to require review by the Institutional Review Board.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.