Abstract
To make informed COVID-19 related decisions, individuals need information about their personal risks and how those risks may vary with specific demographic and health characteristics. The Fight COVID Milwaukee web-based risk assessment tool allows for assessment of COVID-19 mortality risk as a function of personal and neighborhood characteristics. The purpose of this study is to explore public understanding of this risk assessment tool and risk perception through community focus groups. Individuals were recruited from the general adult population in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA, to participate in nine online focus groups where the risk assessment tool was presented for feedback. Three main themes were identified in the focus groups regarding the web-based risk assessment tool: some challenges in accessibility, variable ease of understanding, and personal usefulness but uncertain value for others. This paper explores how members of the community interpret individual risk assessments and life expectancy estimations, and how these vary with age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and pre-existing comorbidities.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1761 |
| Journal | BMC public health |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2023 |
Funding
Research reported in this publication was supported by a grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin under Award Number UL1TR001436. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- COVID-19 vaccines
- Focus groups
- Risk assessment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
