"I See a lot of Crazy Things and I Don't Know What to Believe": Lessons Learned about Health Literacy and Strategies for Communicating with Vaccine-Hesitant College Students.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the American College Health Association (ACHA) has partnered with CommunicateHealth (CH) to develop COVID-19 mitigation resources for colleges and universities. In 2021, the CH team conducted a series of applied research activities to gain a nuanced understanding of factors that shape perceptions of risk and drive vaccine hesitancy among campus audiences-especially college students who are emerging adults (approximately ages 18 to 22). Based on our findings, CH and ACHA identified key traits of vaccine-hesitant college students and implications for future vaccine communication campaigns. First, vaccine-hesitant students are more likely to ask "why" and "how" questions such as "Why do I need to get vaccinated?" and "How was the vaccine developed and tested?". Secondly, these students want to have open, authentic dialogue rather than simply accepting health recommendations from a trusted source. Finally, the CH team noted that vaccine-hesitant students were not highly motivated by their own personal risk of getting sick from COVID-19; concern about spreading COVID-19 to others was a much stronger motivating factor. Leveraging these insights, CH and ACHA developed strategies to apply health literacy principles to reach vaccine-hesitant college students with the right information at the right time-and to leverage relevant motivators and overcome barriers to vaccination. By implementing these strategies, CH and ACHA developed clear and empowering educational materials about COVID-19 vaccination tailored to the unique information needs of vaccine-hesitant students.

Developing eHealth tools for diverse older adults: Lessons learned from the PREPARE for Your Care Program.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Electronic Health (eHealth) tools offer opportunities for people to access health information online; yet, most tools are not designed to meet the unique needs of diverse older adults, leading to health disparities. Our goal was to provide guidance for the development of eHealth tools for diverse older populations for use in geriatric care models. DESIGN: Guidance for eHealth tools was compiled from user design resources and eHealth design literature. Pragmatic examples were provided from an evidenced-based eHealth tool called PREPAREforYourCare.org (PREPARE). We used quantitative feasibility data from PREPARE research studies and qualitative analysis of PREPARE focus groups, cognitive interviews, and feedback from randomized trials to further inform our recommendations. RESULTS: Guidance and lessons learned include: (1) define clear objectives and a conceptual framework; (2) co-create with the target population; (3) optimize the design and layout for accessibility and ease of use, such as text at the 5th grade reading level, closed captioning, etc.; (4) use simple, standardized navigation design; (5) use actionable information to enhance behavior change, such as modeling of behaviors; (6) align accompanying written materials with the eHealth tool; and (7) create tracking mechanisms for ongoing user feedback. PREPARE is used as a case example to provide pragmatic illustrations for how the guidance may be operationalized. CONCLUSION: eHealth tools can be tailored to the unique characteristics, preferences, and needs of diverse older populations. Following the "lessons learned" may help decrease health disparities among diverse older adults and ensure eHealth tools are readily accessible and culturally appropriate.

Addressing Parental Vaccine Hesitancy towards Childhood Vaccines in the United States: A Systematic Literature Review of Communication Interventions and Strategies.

Parental vaccine hesitancy is becoming an increasingly important public health concern in the United States. In March 2020, an assessment of the latest CDC National Immunization Survey data found that more than one-third of U.S. children between the ages of 19 and 35 months were not following the recommended early childhood immunization schedule. Furthermore, a 2019 national survey found that approximately 1 in 4 parents reported serious concerns towards vaccinating their children. Vaccine hesitancy is now associated with a decrease in vaccine coverage and an increase in vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks and epidemics in the United States. Many studies have focused on understanding and defining the new socio-medical term, vaccine hesitancy; few have attempted to summarize past and current health communication interventions and strategies that have been successful or unsuccessful in tackling this growing phenomenon. This systematic literature review will attempt to aid public health professionals with a catalogue of health communication interventions and strategies to ultimately address and prevent parental vaccine hesitancy in the long term. Out of 1239 search results, a total of 75 articles were included for analysis, ranging from systematic reviews, quantitative surveys, and experimental designs to ethnographic and qualitative studies. For the presentation of results, a taxonomy was used to organize communication interventions according to their intended purpose. The catalogue of interventions was further broken down into specific components and themes that were identified in the literature as essential to either the success or failure in preventing and addressing parental vaccine hesitancy towards childhood vaccines.