We investigate the multiple ways in which solidarity outpatient clinics (SOCs)–a type of grassroots organization that emerged in Greece during a decade-long economic crisis–helped socioeconomically disadvantaged populations address pressing health needs and provided social support during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. We also examine the role of communication as a social process through which SOCs established themselves as critical community health resources. Finally, we study SOCs as potential models of patient-centered communication and care delivery. The project is built on socio-ecological theoretical approaches to communication and public health and relies on a case-study approach employing a mixed-methods research design.
Combating COVID-19: Investigating Vaccine Hesitancy and Communication Practices Among Healthcare Providers and Patients in Local New Jersey Communities
Even as COVID-19 vaccination rates accelerate in the U.S., minority communities remain under-vaccinated, due to both vaccine hesitancy and barriers to access. This project focuses on the role that healthcare providers play in encouraging vaccination within the communities they serve, by investigating vaccine perceptions and communication practices among healthcare providers and residents in Newark, New Jersey. Whereas most research on vaccination uptake is conducted at the national level, this project addresses the community level, in order to understand local factors that affect vaccine perceptions and access and, in turn, inform strategies to improve provider-patient communication and, ultimately, vaccine equity.
Moving Beyond the Biopsychosocial Model: Understanding the Medical and Nonmedical Needs of Immunosuppressed Children, Adolescents and Young Adults with Rheumatic and Other Autoimmune Diseases during the COVID-19 Pandemic
A project that aims to demonstrate the feasibility and potential value of studying the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with AI disorders using a mixed-methods approach and assess the capacity of telemedicine to meet patient needs within the context of this pandemic, while identifying ongoing and unmet needs. This project is funded by Rutgers Center for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparation (CCRP2).
Adolescent and Parent Perceptions of the Patient-Provider Relationship Following the COVID Transition to Telehealth
A collaboration between Rutgers and UNC-Chapel Hill that aims to understand how adolescent patients and their parents 1) experience telehealth (video visits) in terms of comfort, privacy, confidentiality and 2) perceive healthcare interactions and relationships with providers following the sudden shift to telehealth.