Background: People who identify as sexual and gender minorities (SGM) experienced disproportionate economic and mental health issues related to COVID-19 when compared to the general population. The purpose of this study was to better understand how COVID-19 has impacted the SGM community and ways to address vaccine hesitancy. Methods: Three focus groups were conducted with 21 members of the SGM community between 5 November and 10 December 2020. A thematic analysis using the reflexive approach was applied to the transcripts of the focus groups. Results: Four themes emerged: (1) Impact of COVID-19 on the Community, (2) Perceptions of Contact Tracing and Testing, (3) Perceptions of a Potential COVID-19 Vaccine, and (4) Decreasing Vaccine Hesitancy. The most relevant subthemes were that social isolation led to anxiety, stress, and fear in the SGM community during COVID-19; resilience and adaptation were positive outcomes of the pandemic; histories of medical racism contributed to hesitancy to get tested; and specific messaging from trusted messengers may be needed to encourage SGM communities to get vaccinated. These findings support other COVID-19 research on the SGM community during the start of the pandemic. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the impact of the early stages of COVID-19 on the SGM community, highlighting the unique hurdles faced by SGM individuals with regard to contact tracing and vaccine hesitancy.

With the aim of fostering patient-centered care, Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) have emerged as a way for hospitals to garner input for initiatives and programs from patients and patients’ families who have used the hospitals’ services. Despite their inception in the early 1980s, only 54% of United States hospitals field a PFAC. This scoping study entailed searching 6 databases in July 2024 and reviewing 143 articles about hospital PFACs from around the world to understand how hospitals use PFACs, measure the results, and acknowledge the success factors. Patient and Family Advisory Council engagement ranged from stamping approval for a project to providing feedback or codesigning the project from the inception, with feedback as the most popular. Of the articles about specific PFACs, 70% either dealt with a condition, such as cancer, the type of person, such as youth, or both. The literature review revealed that few articles cited PFAC project metrics and outcomes, although some articles mentioned PFAC success factors, the most prevalent of which was the training of patients and staff, as well as leadership.

Housing is a key health determinant. Habitability laws set minimum standards for adequate housing. However, accessing them to ensure adequate housing may be a challenge for many tenants. This paper explores the need for rental housing policy that would better support adequate and safe housing, particularly for low-income renters. A mixed-methods approach assessed residential tenant habitability concerns in Clark County, Nevada, through calls relayed to the Clark County Landlord–Tenant Hotline (CCLTH). Of the 2865 calls, 74.3% were from ZIP codes that were 80% of the median income and below. There was a significant relationship between the ZIP code-level income and the reporting of at least one essential habitability concern. Of the 266 participants that responded to a follow-up call, 34.6% reported that their complaint was resolved and there was no association between resolution and income. Qualitative data analysis from phone interviews revealed two central themes: (1) resources to navigate landlord–tenant laws are limiting and (2) housing policies need to be strengthened to help tenants and keep people housed. Understanding tenant concerns regarding substandard housing and related inequities can help inform rental housing policy and its implementation to promote healthy homes and improve health outcomes for communities burdened by poor rental housing conditions.

Communities that are historically marginalized and minoritized were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to long-standing social inequities. It was found that those who experience social vulnerabilities faced a heightened burden of COVID-19 morbidities and mortalities and concerningly lower rates of COVID-19 vaccination. The CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (CDC-SVI) is a pivotal tool for planning responses to health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the associations between CDC-SVI and its corresponding themes with COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Nevada counties. Additionally, the study discusses the utility of the CDC-SVI in the context of equitable vaccine uptake in a pandemic setting. We examined the linear association between the 2020 CDC-SVI (including the composite score and the four themes) and COVID-19 vaccine uptake (including initial and complete vaccinations) for the seventeen Nevada counties. These associations were further examined for spatial-varied effects. Each CDC-SVI theme was negatively correlated with initial and complete COVID-19 vaccine uptake (crude) except for minority status, which was positively correlated. However, all correlations were found to be weak. Excessive vaccination rates among some counties are not explained by the CDC-SVI. Overall, these findings suggest the CDC-SVI themes are a better predictor of COVID-19 vaccine uptake than the composite SVI score at the county level. Our findings are consistent with similar studies. The CDC-SVI is a useful measure for public health preparedness, but with limitations. Further understanding is needed of which measures of social vulnerability impact health outcomes.