The eight PENSs held more than 56 events between September 16, 2022, and January 28, 2023. This is likely an undercount because some events recorded as a single had a series of sessions, and several events were cohosted. The majority of community events were hosted by Community Health Centers (N = 11), followed by Public Health (N = 5), Medical Clinic (N = 4) and the AIDS Committee of Ottawa (N = 2). Approximately 1/3 of events were held with one of the host agencies (33%), and nearly one-half were conducted with a community partner (49%). Several events targeted population groups such as the ACB francophone (N = 5), seniors, Muslims, Students/Youth, Women, and internationally educated medical graduates.
Approximately half of the educational events were held in person, and half were held online. Among the main venues reached were community (e.g., door-to-door, malls, large community events (N = 15), faith-based settings (N = 11), health clinics (N = 10), social media (N = 7+), friends/family (N = 7+) and student/university settings (N = 3). Although exact figures could not be determined for some of the events (e.g., social media), the findings suggest that over 1,500 ACB people (range: 1438–1531+) were reached during community engagement.
The vast majority of PENS reported high levels of community engagement. This was evident in the tracking sheets where PENs noted, ‘Very high level of engagement with many questions asked’, ‘People seemed interested in the talk’ and ‘High level of engagement, participants were willing to talk and listen.’
Participants greatly appreciated that the events were led by ACB community representatives, as evident in the following comments: ‘Being educated by a fellow Black person’, ‘Blacks reaching out to Blacks’, and ‘Identifying with a person of color.’
The majority of PENSs reported benefits of the program for ACB community members in terms of its acceptability, accessibility and impact.
The acceptability of educational events is evident in the appreciation expressed of having peers lead events, and the success of this approach was often attributed to the fact that PENs were community members.
I think we had a very big and strong impact in the community because, as peer navigators, we are not like scientists or, or decision makers in health. We're more like shoulders to many of the community members so that they could rely on us to get the right information concerning their health.
They felt she was talking from the truth. She's not talking as a professional. She's not talking because her work is making her say that. She's talking because she's trying to help me.
Several PENS noted the positive impact of having these events specifically led by a black community member. As one PEN explained,
Many of them were excited to know that Blacks were with the Blacks doing something for ourselves; we're not waiting on any other race or any other person to carry out this research for us.
Another PEN spoke of the access barriers that were reduced, as PENS often spoke more than one language.
There are some community members who do not even speak in English; we speak in our different African languages, and it creates that connection.
This was also true for one-on-one community outreach approaches, as illustrated in the following quote:
When we went individually, it was just you and the person you're speaking with. I feel sometimes it is a little bit better, especially if they do not feel comfortable.
The effectiveness of the PEN approach was evident in the tracking notes recorded after several events: ‘After our discussion, they understood the importance of vaccines’, ‘We should hold such events periodically because of the high impact it has in the ACB community’, and ‘It was a success. It was fun and interactive in discussions with young people.
The benefits of the community engagement component were also captured in the focus group discussion where PENS spoke of the effectiveness of using a peer-led, community-based approach to educate community members and build trust.
It was interesting being with a group of friends and talking about our health, especially about COVID-19. Many of them were willing to admit that they were skeptical about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. I was able to educate them about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and correct any misinformation.
PENS suggested strategies to improve the impact of the PEN program. For example, program effectiveness could increase if the length of the project was extended. This is evident in the following comment:
I think, if the program was a little bit longer, they would have more impact. I know sometimes when we reached out, or I reached out to some people, they always [would] be like, is there going to be another event like this tomorrow, or next week. I felt like if we had more time for this program, I think it would have covered more ground.
Several PENSs agreed that the work of PENS may have more impact if it was conducted with trusted ACB organizations rather than health clinics.
Only limited data were available for community-reported indicators of increased vaccine literacy. For example, there were only eight event participants who completed a postevent survey. Among this group, all ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they learned something new at the event, that the event increased their awareness of this issue, that they feel better able to make decisions about their health, and that they better understand what is needed to improve the health of African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) communities; 87.5% ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they would share what they learned with others in their family and with others in their community.