Exploring the Roles of Trust, Attitudes, and Motivations in COVID-19 Decision-Making and Vaccination Likelihood: Insights from the Louisiana Community Engagement Alliance (LA-CEAL) Community-Academic-Public Health-Practice (CAPP) Partnership

Given the increasing integration of trusted leaders in public health science, including vaccination programs, context-specific understandings of community perceptions and levels of trust are critical to intervention. This study aimed to understand the perspectives and attitudes of the southeastern Louisiana community and inform the development of a community-engaged action plan. A cross-sectional survey of 555 southeastern Louisianans-including faith-based organization (FBO) members, community pharmacy (CommRx) customers, community-based organization (CBO) contacts, and Louisiana community-dwelling residents-was conducted from November 2020 to March 2021. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination likelihood. Of the participants, 89.9% were Black and 56.9% were women (mean age = 53.3 years). Doctors/healthcare providers (HCPs) were the most trusted COVID-19 information sources. Vaccination likelihood was associated with increasing age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.47; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27-1.72), trust in doctors/HCPs (OR = 2.83; 95% CI: 1.64-4.88), trust in government (OR = 4.26; 95% CI: 2.44-7.43), and motivations to keep one's community safe (OR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.36-1.70). CommRx customers (OR = 1.93; 95% CI: 1.02-3.65) and CBO contacts (OR = 2.57; 95% CI: 1.37-4.83) were more likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than FBO members. Engaging underserved communities and trusted stakeholders through collaborative Community-Academic-Public health-Practice (CAPP) partnerships such as the Louisiana Community Engagement Alliance can promote health and wellness and optimize health interventions.