Communicating COVID-19 health information to culturally and linguistically diverse communities: insights from a participatory research collaboration

Abstract

Objective: To consider the challenges of communicating COVID-19 directives to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Australia, and present evidence-based solutions to influence policy and practice on promoting relevant health behaviours; to advance participatory research methodologies for health behaviour change. Type of program or service: We present a case study of a participatory research collaboration between CALD community leaders and health behaviour change scientists during the COVID-19 crisis. The goal was to better understand the role of community leaders in shaping health behaviours in their communities and how that role might be leveraged for better health outcomes. Methods: This article is the culmination of a series of dialogues between CALD community and advocacy leaders, and health behaviour change scientists in July 2020. The academic authors recruited 12 prominent CALD community leaders, conducted five semi-structured dialogues with small

Ezidi Voices: The Communication of COVID-19 Information Amongst a Refugee Community in Rural Australia- a Participatory Study.

“…The close-knit nature of the Ezidi community emphasises the crucial role trust plays in acceptance of COVID-19 health messages. This reality corroborates emerging recommendations for the general CALD community [14,16]. Early harnessing and support of the trusted service providers, who already have the community's con dence appears to be a logical and effective initiative for sharing government endorsed COVID-19 messages in Australia.…”

“…Participants identi ed ways in which government-driven COVID-19 messages can be improved, in respect to distribution and appropriateness of content. Universal principles, such as provision of messages in language by an audio-visual medium, simpli cation of content and delivery by trusted service providers are not dissimilar to recommendations for general CALD populations [14][15][16]. The Ezidi community requires further tailoring of government COVID-19 messages, by considering socio-cultural norms such as age, gender and past history of trauma and torture.…”

“…Refugees may experience barriers to accessing and sharing COVID-19 information, with a trickledown effect on access to healthcare [12,13]. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia has uncovered the government's gap in reaching vulnerable CALD groups with suitable health messaging [14][15][16]. It has been suggested that inadequate government communication with CALD communities contributed to the July 2020 COVID-19 outbreak in social public housing towers in Melbourne [14].…”

COVID-19 testing and vaccine willingness: Cross-sectional survey in a culturally diverse community in Sydney, Australia

“…Given existing inequities for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and the lower vaccination intentions observed in this study, public health should prioritise these groups to support testing and vaccination(Dodds and Fakoya, 2020, Al-Oraibi et al, 2021). This approach must work collaboratively with people in these communities to develop tailored, targeted approaches to COVID-19 vaccine communication and rollout(Wild et al, 2021, Leask et al, 2021, Chauhan et al, 2021, Raz et al, 2021). In fact, the Australian federal government itself laid out policy in November 2020(Australian Government, 2021a), emphasising the need for translated and simple English communication about the vaccines and their rollout, providing ample opportunity for people in these communities to ask questions, working with community leaders and representatives, and embedding interpreter workforce into clinical services.…”

Population-based analysis of the epidemiological features of COVID-19 epidemics in Victoria, Australia, January 2020 – March 2021, and their suppression through comprehensive control strategies

“…People from culturally and linguistically diverse communities are overrepresented as workers in essential settings, such as aged care and abattoirs, underscoring the need to ensure that pandemic control measures are enacted without further entrenching disadvantage [ 20 ]. Meaningful engagement with higher exposure-risk communities is critical for ensuring future public health actions [ 21 ]. To that end, Victoria designed and implemented public health interventions that sought to engage authentically with diverse communities to maximize trust and cooperation and mitigate negative impacts [ 22 ].…”