Using a Novel-Liaison Based Social Media Intervention Utilizing Community Feedback to Improve Organizational Health Literacy in Covid-19 Crisis Communication

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic exposed historical pervasive gaps in information and resources for vulnerable communities. In an academic community partnered response of a consortium of already collaborating community and academic partners, the COVID Care Corps (CCC), was developed to create and disseminate public health information to individuals in the Inland Empire (IE) by including community liaisons to implement a systematic feedback loop to assure community voice. Liaisons made disseminating information and getting community feedback more efficiently in a time of crisis when information needed to be immediate. As a result, it was found that although community was concerned about the pandemic, they also wanted information about other social determinants of health (immigration, finances, housing and job security= often presented as competing priorities to the pandemic. This resulted in a shift in content creation to aligned with community needs and interests. Establishing trust through community relationships and identifying community liaisons should be implemented prior to a crisis to ensure the quick dissemination of information needed for local buy-in and true equitable health communication. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: IRB of Loma Linda University gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability No data produced in the present study will be available.