Virtual Coaching Delivered by Pharmacists to Prevent COVID-19 Transmission

Abstract

Background: While the role of pharmacists in the current pandemic control has been recognized worldwide, their coaching efforts to improve public’s behaviors that could prevent COVID-19 transmission has been rarely investigated. Objectives: To assess whether pharmacist-based virtual health coaching sessions could increase the proportion of people who practised healthy social behaviors, to test whether this model can increase the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines, and to measure whether these behaviors could actually prevent contracting COVID-19. Method: In this randomized controlled trial, adults who matched specific criteria were randomly allocated into 2 arms. The active arm received 12 pharmacist-based virtual coaching sessions delivered via Zoom® over a month. Participants allocated to the control arm received no coaching. At the end of the last coaching session, both groups were asked to complete a structured questionnaire for outcome assessment. Participants in the active group were followed up to 2 weeks after the end of the last coaching session to check if they contracted COVID-19 or not. The SPSS software version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 300 participants who gave consent for participation, 295 completed the study (147 from the active arm and 148 from the control arm). The proportion of those using face masks, avoiding crowds, and willing to be isolated if infected in the active arm was increased from 51.70%, 53.74%, and 59.86% at baseline to 91.83%, 80.27%, and 96.59% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). In addition, the proportion of behaviors, such as disinfecting surfaces, not touching the T-zone, and avoid sharing personal belongings with colleagues at work was increased from 36.05%, 27.89%, and 46.93% at baseline to 63.94%, 52.38%, and 87.75% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). Avoid touching the T-zone (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.89) and using disposable tissues (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.18-0.77), each versus using face masks appropriately were more likely to get COVID-19. Conclusion: Pharmacist-based virtual health coaching could be a potential strategy to increase the proportion of behaviors that could curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Exploring COVID‐19 education to support vaccine confidence amongst the general adult population with special considerations for healthcare and long‐term care staff: A scoping review

“…Addressing misinformation was a common component of the educational interventions reviewed due to the significant degree of inaccurate information, largely transmitted through social media, surrounding the COVID‐19 vaccine. Dispelling fears and discussing circulating disinformation was a strategy explicitly identified in 13 studies (Round 1: 38% (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2021; NHS England, 2021; NICE, 2021; Talmy et al, 2021; Traynor, 2021), Round 2: 42% (Marquez et al, 2021; AuYoung et al, 2022; Bouchard, 2021; Garcia, 2021; Hopper, 2021; Li et al, 2022; Rosario, 2021; Tesfaye, 2022)). One study addressed misinformation due to evidence suggesting much of COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy among the study population was associated with conspiracy beliefs (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2021).…”

“…Dispelling fears and discussing circulating disinformation was a strategy explicitly identified in 13 studies (Round 1: 38% (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2021; NHS England, 2021; NICE, 2021; Talmy et al, 2021; Traynor, 2021), Round 2: 42% (Marquez et al, 2021; AuYoung et al, 2022; Bouchard, 2021; Garcia, 2021; Hopper, 2021; Li et al, 2022; Rosario, 2021; Tesfaye, 2022)). One study addressed misinformation due to evidence suggesting much of COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy among the study population was associated with conspiracy beliefs (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2021). Three studies in Round 2 (16%) also dispelled inaccurate information regarding vaccine eligibility; for instance, clarifying immigration status does not impact eligibility (Bouchard, 2021; Garcia, 2021; Tesfaye, 2022).…”

“…Presentations were the most commonly employed format for delivering educational intervention across both rounds (Round 1: 85%, Round 2: 68%) (Figure 4, Supporting Information: eTable ). Presentations included, for example, webinars (Kelkar et al, 2021; NICE, 2021; Peteet et al, 2021; Traynor, 2021), coaching sessions (Abdel‐Qader et al 2021, 2022), town halls (AuYoung et al, 2022; Berry et al, 2021; Garcia, 2021; Ginder‐Vogel, 2021; Hopper, 2021; Wagner et al, 2022), lectures (Abou Leila et al, 2021; Talmy et al, 2021), educational sessions (Spelman et al, 2022a; Takamatsu et al, 2021), information sessions (Gakuba et al, 2021; WCAX, 2021; Wiley, 2021), ‘Ask a Doc’ sessions (Bouchard, 2021; Feifer et al, 2021), train‐the‐trainer sessions (Quinn & Andrasik, 2021), and Q&A sessions (Garcia, 2021; Tesfaye, 2022). Virtual presentations whereby participants were able to ask questions, allowed for meaningful active dialogue and bidirectional communication between the speakers and audience, as noted (AuYoung et al, 2022).…”

“…A train‐the‐trainer model was employed in one‐quarter of studies in Round 1 (24%) (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2021 ; Berry et al, 2021 ; Quinn & Andrasik, 2021 ) and one‐third of studies in Round 2 (37%) (Abdel‐Qader et al, 2022 ; Abou Leila et al, 2021 ; AuYoung et al, 2022 ; Ginder‐Vogel, 2021 ; Katzman et al, 2022 ; Marquez et al, 2021 ; Spelman et al, 2022a ). This model was frequently leveraged to increase the human resource capacity for vaccine education.…”

“…This included, for instance, intensive and interactive training on health coaching principles, verbal and non-verbal communication skills(Abdel-Qader et al, 2021;Abou Leila et al, 2021), models of behaviour change(Abdel-Qader et al, 2021) and COVID-19 information(Abou Leila et al, 2021). Most often, this training was provided to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists(Abdel-Qader et al 2021Ginder-Vogel, 2021), physicians(Abdel-Qader et al, 2022;Abou Leila et al, 2021;Quinn & Andrasik, 2021;Spelman et al, 2022a), opinion leaders characterized as 'outspoken staff member that other individuals may listen to,F I G U R E 4 Delivery format of educational interventions examined in included studies on educational interventions for COVID-19 vaccine uptake published February 2021 and February 2022. Categories were not mutually exclusive.regardless of whether the staff member planned to receive the COVID-19 vaccine'(Berry et al, 2021), and community health teams(Marquez et al, 2021;Quinn & Andrasik, 2021).…”