Utilizing rapid qualitative assessment and thematic analysis methods to identify and share promising case investigation and contact tracing practices with people in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities during COVID-19.
Windy Fredkove, Erin Mann, Seja Abudiab, Diego De Acosta, Yesenia Garcia, Sarah J Hoffman, Sayyeda Karim, Christine Thomas, Kimberly Kan-Yih Yu, Katherine Yun, Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn
Author Information
Windy Fredkove: Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Erin Mann: Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Seja Abudiab: Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Diego De Acosta: National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Yesenia Garcia: Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United States.
Sarah J Hoffman: Population Health and Systems Cooperative, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Sayyeda Karim: Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Christine Thomas: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Kimberly Kan-Yih Yu: National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Katherine Yun: Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn: Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic The National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM) was established. NRC-RIM initially sought to rapidly identify promising case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) practices within refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities. Between September 2020 and April 2021, the team conducted 60 interviews with individuals from cross-sector organizations (i.e., public health, health systems, community experts/organizations) working with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities in health and public health capacities related to COVID-19. The overarching aim was to identify and amplify innovative promising and best practices for CICT with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities, including an exploration of barriers and facilitators. We utilized layered methods to rapidly assess, summarize and disseminate promising practices while simultaneously completing four thematic analyses including: (1) public health organizations; (2) health system organizations; (3) community leaders and organizations; and (4) vaccine planning and access across the three sectors. The primary objective of this article is to describe the project design, applied methods, and team science approach we utilized. We found that rapid identification and dissemination of promising practices, and barriers and facilitators for CICT with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities was feasible during a public health emergency. This approach was essential for identifying and widely sharing culturally and linguistically concordant public health practices.
