By Merin C. MacDonald | Date published: July 12, 2024
Kimberly Fisher to Develop New Training Program to Promote Vaccination Among Vulnerable Populations
Vaccine hesitancy continues to be a major public health problem, as highlighted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Disparities in COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake among racial and ethnic minorities, non-US-born individuals, and those of low socioeconomic status contribute to a disproportionately high burden of illness from COVID-19 as well as influenza, with higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths among these individuals.
In a new project funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Kimberly Fisher, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Divisions of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care and Health Systems Science, and colleagues, will develop and test a training program in Motivational Interviewing Adapted for Vaccination (MI-VAX) for primary care providers (PCPs) to support the promotion of COVID-19 and influenza vaccination among vulnerable populations.
The study team will build on previous experience training providers in motivational interviewing (MI) and their ongoing work supporting PCPs in addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and will develop, implement, and evaluate an MI training program specific to COVID-19 and influenza vaccination for PCPs who care for adult patients in the UMass Memorial Health Care clinical system and two local Federally Qualified Health Centers.
The overall goal of this proposal is to test the impact of MI on COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake among vulnerable adult patients. The study team’s research will generate important evidence for training PCPs to communicate effectively with vaccine-hesitant adult patients.
In addition to Dr. Fisher, the study team includes Kathleen Mazor, EdD, Mayra Tisminetzky, MD, PhD, MPH, Daniel Mullin, PsyD, MPH, Sonal Singh, MD, MPH, Sybil Crawford, PhD, all of UMass Chan, and Rosalie Torres Stone, PhD, of Clark University.