• Jennifer Cunningham-Erves, Megan Davis, Elizabeth C Stewart, Leah Alexander, Jamal Moss, Iman Barre, Imari Parham, Tilicia Mayo-Gamble, and Jamaine Davis.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Meharry Medical College 1005 Dr. D.B. Todd, Jr., Blvd Nashville, TN 37208, United States of America; Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Ave Suite 700, Nashville, TN 37203. United States of America. Electronic address: jennifer.erves@vumc.org.
• J Natl Med Assoc. 2024 Feb 1; 116 (1): 455545-55.

ObjectiveImproving current and future risk communication plans is critical to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and begin to prepare for future pandemics. Minority groups, particularly African Americans, have been limited in engagement to prepare these plans which has been demonstrated to be disadvantageous. We report findings from a qualitative study that describes gaps, needs, and strategies to improve communication among vulnerable, Black American subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsSixty-two Black Americans in uniquely, vulnerable subgroups participated in qualitative, semi-structured interviews from May to September 2020. Thematic analyses were used to identify themes.ResultsParticipants were 16 essential workers, 16 parents, 15 young adults, and 15 individuals with underlying medical conditions. Emerging themes were: (1) Poor communication and miscommunication fueled fear and confusion; (2) Information sources and channels: How do I choose one?; (3) Communication needs were simple yet complex; (4) All information sources are not trusted information sources; (5) Preferred yet trusted channels and types of information; and (6) Dissemination of COVID Research: Why and How. Subgroups varied in information sources and processes for choosing the source, communication needs, and channels and types of information needed. They shared why they did and did not trust certain sources along with the importance of COVID research dissemination to promote informed decision-making throughout the pandemic.DiscussionThis study found that Black American subgroups had diverse, yet trusted and non-trusted messages, messengers, and strategies for communication and wanted research results disseminated. We describe multi-level stakeholders and strategies to help improve risk communication for pandemics, and potentially preparedness and health outcomes.Copyright © 2023 National Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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