Publications by authors named "Gillian SteelFisher"

The arrival of bird flu (H5N1) is a poignant reminder of the need for public health leaders to understand Americans' evolving perspectives on pandemic mitigation policies. To guide response efforts, we conducted a nationally representative opinion survey among 1017 U.S.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Oral Paxlovid is an effective treatment for COVID-19, preventing severe outcomes, but its use remains low among high-risk patients since its introduction in December 2021.
  • - A July 2023 survey of 1,430 US adults revealed that 85% had little to no awareness of Paxlovid, with many holding incorrect beliefs about its effectiveness and side effects.
  • - The lack of awareness and misunderstandings are particularly prevalent among disadvantaged groups, highlighting the need for improved public communication and outreach as the drug loses government subsidies.
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The enduring spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses highlights a need for greater focus on long-term public willingness to perform protective behaviors. Although COVID-19 is no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern, it is unknown whether people in the United States plan to continue protective behaviors to protect themselves and others against infection. To inform planning and communications, we used a nationally representative survey of 1,936 US adults to examine attitudes and intentions toward future vaccination and mask-wearing.

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Purpose: State and local public health departments (LHDs) are encouraged to collaborate with community-based organizations (CBOs) to enhance communication and promote protective practices with communities made vulnerable during emergencies, but there is little evidence-based understanding of practical approaches to fostering collaboration in this context. This research focuses on how collaboration enhances LHD capacity for effective communication for people with limited English proficiency (LEP) during infectious disease outbreaks specifically and strategies to facilitate productive LHD-CBO collaboration.

Design: Qualitative, telephone interviews, conducted March-October 2021.

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The social and behavioural determinants of COVID-19 vaccination have been described previously. However, little is known about how vaccinated people use and rate their health system. We used surveys conducted in 14 countries to study the health system correlates of COVID-19 vaccination.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study using the People's Voice Survey in 15 countries shows that less than half of the population feels confident in their ability to access good-quality healthcare when sick.
  • Only 25% of respondents believe their current health system is functioning well and does not need major reforms, with the lowest confidence noted in countries like Peru, the UK, and Greece.
  • The survey highlights that demographic factors like wealth, education, age, and gender influence confidence levels in the health system, suggesting possible future challenges for publicly funded healthcare systems.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for research about communicating with populations who have limited English proficiency in the United States during infectious disease outbreaks. These populations have experienced significantly worse health outcomes during emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and evidence-based risk communications are critical to protecting their health. To support improved development of emergency communications for these communities, we conducted a scoping review that examined the extent of research available, with an intent to identify which communications topics are covered in the literature and where research gaps exist.

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Importance: Telemedicine in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) has the potential to improve access and timeliness of care. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to 2022, telemedicine coverage expanded, but little is known about patterns of use in SNFs.

Objective: To describe patterns of telemedicine use in SNFs.

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To help inform policy discussions about postpandemic telemedicine reimbursement and regulations, we conducted dual nationally representative surveys among primary care physicians and patients. Although majorities of both populations reported satisfaction with video visits during the pandemic, 80 percent of physicians would prefer to provide only a small share of care or no care via telemedicine in the future, and only 36 percent of patients would prefer to seek care by video or phone. Most physicians (60 percent) felt that the quality of video telemedicine care was generally inferior to the quality of in-person care, and both patients and physicians cited the lack of physical exam as a key reason (90 percent and 92 percent, respectively).

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Public health agencies' ability to protect health in the wake of COVID-19 largely depends on public trust. In February 2022 we conducted a first-of-its-kind nationally representative survey of 4,208 US adults to learn the public's reported reasons for trust in federal, state, and local public health agencies. Among respondents who expressed a "great deal" of trust, that trust was not related primarily to agencies' ability to control the spread of COVID-19 but, rather, to beliefs that those agencies made clear, science-based recommendations and provided protective resources.

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People with limited English proficiency in the United States have suffered disproportionate negative health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective communications are critical tools in addressing inequities insofar as they can motivate adoption of protective behaviors and reduce incidence of disease; however, little is known about experiences of communities with limited English proficiency receiving relevant information during COVID-19 or other outbreaks. To address this gap and provide inputs for communication strategies, we completed a study based on 2 novel and nationally representative surveys conducted between June and August 2020 among Spanish and Chinese speakers with limited English proficiency (n = 764 and n = 355, respectively).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how social norms influence the acceptance of oral polio vaccines in Pakistan, particularly in light of challenges like COVID-19 that threaten vaccination efforts.
  • Data was collected from over 4,000 parents and caregivers in high-risk areas, revealing that positive social norms correlated with greater vaccine acceptance and commitment to future vaccinations.
  • Findings suggest that enhancing the perceived trust and competence of vaccinators can foster positive social norms, which may help maintain vaccine acceptance and combat potential fatigue among caregivers.
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On April 13, 2021, U.S. authorities announced an investigation into potential adverse events associated with the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen, J&J) COVID-19 vaccine and recommended "a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.

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Domestic travel creates a serious risk of spreading COVID-19, including novel strains of the virus. Motivating potential travelers to take precautions is critical, especially for those at higher risk for severe illness. To provide an evidence base for communication efforts, we examined the experiences and views of travelers during the summer of 2020 through a telephone survey of 1,968 US adults, conducted in English and Spanish, July 2 through July 16, 2020.

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Seasonal influenza vaccination rates among pregnant women remain well below the Healthy People 2020 target of 80%. Obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) recommendations are a critical means of encouraging pregnant women to get vaccinated, but there are limited data about their views. A nationally representative survey of 506 practicing OB/GYNs was completed between October 26, 2015, and May 8, 2016.

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This cross-sectional study examines trends in test result turnaround rates for COVID-19 testing nursing facility residents and staff in hot spot counties in the US.

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Medication use among pregnant women is widespread, despite limited evidence about the teratogenicity of most medications. Improved physician-patient communication about pregnancy-related medication safety has been identified as a strategy to address this critical issue; however, little is known about physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices that could inform tools for information access and sharing to support such communication. The primary objective of this study is to address gaps in what is known about obstetrician-gynecologist views, practices, and needs related to accessing and sharing pregnancy-related medication safety information with patients.

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Objective: To examine experiences of racial discrimination among black adults in the United States, which broadly contribute to their poor health outcomes.

Data Source And Study Design: Data come from a nationally representative, probability-based telephone survey including 802 non-Hispanic black and a comparison group of 902 non-Hispanic white US adults, conducted January-April 2017.

Methods: We calculated the percent of blacks reporting discrimination in several domains, including health care.

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Objective: To examine reported experiences of gender discrimination and harassment among US women.

Data Source And Study Design: Data come from a nationally representative, probability-based telephone survey of 1596 women, conducted January-April 2017.

Methods: We calculated the percentages of women reporting gender discrimination and harassment in several domains, including health care.

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