Health workers are trusted sources of information on COVID-19 and vacciness, but reported that they lacked such information themselves. Extracts from a blog from the NGO Breakthrough ACTION.
https://breakthroughactionandresearch.org/building-empathy-and-trust-aro...
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Breakthrough ACTION supports the Government of Nigeria (GON) to create an enabling environment for preparedness, response, and recovery from emerging pandemic threats and infectious disease outbreaks. Working with and through health care workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 response efforts has been key to this support. Research shows:
- HCWs are trusted messengers for social and behavior change (SBC) interventions. In fact, results from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Sydani Vaccine Hesitancy Study in Nigeria showed that 83% of participants said they would seek advice from a HCW in the decision to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
- HCWs were largely more likely to be vaccinated than the general population for COVID-19. However, many remained vaccine hesitant. This was largely due to a lack of confidence in the vaccines, followed by lack of trust of government/public figures, fear of adverse effects, constraints to access, and low perception of risk of disease.
- HCWs reported that they lacked sufficient information on COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines and required more information on COVID-19 and vaccination.
In response to this demonstrated need, Breakthrough ACTION in collaboration with partners in Nigeria, developed the “Building Trust and Empathy Around COVID-19” training curriculum, which aims to not only build the skills of HCWs in providing empathetic care but also support them in navigating their own self-care to avoid burnout during an emergency. The training combines an in-person component along with virtual coaching support and reference materials, such as the training participant’s booklet, awareness cards, posters, and learning videos...
The Building Trust and Empathy collaborative learning approach started as an intervention aimed at increasing the uptake of COVID-19 testing and vaccination. However, the project quickly found that the content on interpersonal communication, empathy, self-care/well-being, and the evidence-based communication strategies can be applied and is being applied more generally to address broader health care outcomes.
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Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All - www.hifa.org ), a global health community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages. HIFA brings stakeholders together to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK based non-profit in official relations with the World Health Organization.
Twitter: @hifa_org neil@hifa.org
