Improving the Collaborative Health of Minority COVID-19 Survivor and Carepartner Dyads Through Interventions Targeting Social and Structural Health Inequities.

This study tests the efficacy of a dyadic intervention to mitigate the adverse health consequences of SARS- CoV-2 (COVID-19) in African American (AA) adults with pre-existing chronic health conditions and their informal carepartners (IC). Socioeconomically disadvantaged, older, and Black/African American from rural regions are burdened with greater rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Those chronic diseases contribute to more severe health consequences and higher rates of mortality from COVID-19. POC are also more likely to be impacted by social and structural determinants of health (SSDH), such as barriers to health care access, discrimination, and lack of social support, that negatively impact quality of life (QoL) and effective chronic disease self- management behaviors. To provide the fullest health benefits to participants with chronic conditions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that we design interventions targeting SSDH for improved chronic disease self-management, health, functioning, QoL.

This study will utilize an embedded mixed methods design paired with an efficacy randomized controlled trial (RCT). Our iCINGS FAM (Integrating Community-based Intervention Under Nurse Guidance with Families) is a Registered Nurse (RN)-Community Health Worker (CHW)-delivered, telehealth intervention (14-weeks) that targets compounding racial- and pandemic-related stressors for improved chronic illness management and future disease risk mitigation in adult AA COVID-19 survivor/IC dyads.