Digital Storytelling Methods to Empower Young Black Adults in COVID-19 Vaccination Decision-Making: Feasibility Study and Demonstration

Abstract

Background Despite high rates of novel COVID-19, acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination is low among Black adults. In response, we developed a digital health intervention (Tough Talks-COVID) that includes digital stories created in a workshop we held with young Black adults. Objective Our formative research using digital storytelling workshops asked 3 research questions: (1) What issues did participants have in conceptualizing their stories, and what themes emerged from the stories they created? (2) What issues did participants have related to production techniques, and which techniques were utilized in stories? and (3) Overall, how did participants evaluate their workshop experience? Methods Participants were workshop-eligible if they were vaccine-accepting based on a baseline survey fielded in late 2021. Final participants (N=11) completed a consent process, all 3 workshops, and a media release form for their digital story. The first 2 workshops provided background information and hands-on digital storytelling skills from pre- to postproduction. The third workshop served as a screening and feedback session for participants’ final videos. Qualitative and quantitative feedback elements were incorporated into all 3 sessions. Results Digital stories addressed one or more of 4 broad themes: (1) COVID-19 vulnerability, (2) community connections, (3) addressing vaccine hesitancy, and (4) countering vaccine misinformation. Participants incorporated an array of technical approaches, including unique creative elements such as cartoon images and instant messaging tools to convey social interactions around COVID-19 decision-making. Most (9/11, 82%) strongly agreed the digital storytelling workshops were delivered as expected; 10 of 11 agreed (n=5) or strongly agreed (n=5) that they had some ideas about what story to tell by the end of the first workshop, and most (8/11, 73%) strongly agreed they had narrowed down their ideas by workshop two. Of the participants, 9 felt they would very likely (n=6) or likely (n=3) use digital storytelling techniques for personal use in the future, and even more were very likely (n=7) to use the techniques for professional use. Conclusions Our study is one of the first to incorporate digital storytelling as a central component to a digital health intervention and the only one to do so with exclusive focus on young Black adults. Our emphasis on digital storytelling was shown to be highly acceptable. Similar approaches, including careful consideration of the ethical challenges of community-based participatory approaches, are applicable to other populations experiencing both COVID-19 inequities and marginalization, such as other age demographics and people of color.

Community Level Correlates of COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Hesitancy in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…Most of these interventions involve education-based initiatives to enhance vaccine literacy and confidence in individuals. A study in 2022 discussed the development of a digital health resource designed to provide COVID-19 education to young Black adults in the Southern United States to encourage vaccine uptake in this community [ 66 ]. Similarly, another study from 2021 proposed to develop a mobile-phone-based intervention in which interactive text messaging could be used to engage specific communities while underscoring the advantages of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 [ 67 ].…”

Tough Talks COVID-19 Digital Health Intervention for Vaccine Hesitancy Among Black Young Adults: Protocol for a Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness Implementation Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Interested and eligible survey respondents were directed to informational text that described the digital storytelling workshop and its purpose [ 41 ]. Once the participants consented, they were invited to participate in 1 of 2 web-based digital storytelling workshops; each consisted of 3 sessions.…”

A qualitative study of behavioral and social drivers of COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake among unvaccinated Americans in the US April-May 2021

“…Alternatively, willingness to help others can be explained by the extent to which a person believes that vaccination poses a social contract with which others should comply [34][35][36][37]. One technique for increasing vaccination rates could be to use the stories of vaccinated individuals to encourage unvaccinated people in their families and communities to receive COVID-19 vaccines [38][39][40][41]. Public health strategies could also employ peoples' vaccination narratives, mainly why they decided to get vaccinated and the effect that it has had, including acknowledgment of their initial fears and side effects [19,[40][41][42][43].…”