NNLM AoU Community Award: Health Literacy Supports Resiliency: Support for BIPOC Women and Families

The goal of the project is to increase health literacy of participant Ocean and Monmouth County families about COVID-19 preventive measures such as vaccination and consistent mask use; and emotional health, anxiety and depression related to the pandemic and other social determinants of health, using medically accurate, bilingual health information sources such as Medline Plus and other vetted sources from the National Library of Medicine. The project’s intended audience is primarily Black and Hispanic families born in the US and myriad other countries of origin, especially pregnant and postpartum persons and their families. Because CHSofNJ has heard from Ocean and Monmouth County participant families about the need for direct education from trusted, bilingual community health workers on COVID-19 and linguistically and culturally relevant education workshops on anxiety and depression related to the pandemic and underlying social determinants of health, we will offer 3 health education workshops (2 in Spanish, 1 in English) on COVID-19 preventive information and dealing with anxiety and depression related to the pandemic. CHSofNJ would do virtual workshops between January 1, 2022 and March 30, 2022; with planning in November and December 2021. The intended impact will be a 30% increase in self-reported health literacy of participants about COVID-19 and anxiety and depression; and familiarity with All of Us and NNLM health education resources.