Incentives of up to $75 are available for Pacific Islander volunteers willing to participate in an ongoing University of Guam–led study. The study, called the UOG RADx-UP: Protecting Life Project, seeks to learn more about Pacific Islanders’ knowledge and understanding of COVID-19 and testing in order to decrease the number of deaths related to the virus.
Individuals of CHamoru and Chuukese descent account for nearly half of all COVID-related deaths in Guam. And Pacific Islanders – more specifically the indigenous people of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Hawai’i, and Palau – collectively have among the highest morbidity and mortality rates associated with COVID-19 in the United States.
Participants of the study will be asked to complete two confidential questionnaires and will have the option to also provide a specimen for COVID-19 testing. At-home test kits are available to complete the optional testing.
Each participant will receive gift card incentives, worth up to $75, for completing the surveys, for attending an educational session on COVID-19 prevention and testing, and for each additional volunteer he or she refers.
Eligible participants must:
- self-identify as Pacific Islander
- be 18 years of age or older
- have never tested positive for COVID-19
- be in Guam for at least three months
- not have a bleeding problem or disorder, an immune deficiency disorder, or an autoimmune disease.
This study is one of 69 projects across the United States funded by the National Institutes of Health. RADx-UP stands for the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (in) Underserved Populations. This project is a partnership between the University of Guam and the University of Hawai`i John A. Burns School of Medicine, and both sites are actively seeking to recruit up to 800 participants in Guam and 4,000 participants in Hawaii.
To determine eligibility, interested participants may visit https://url.uog.edu/radxup.
For more information, please contact a UOG RADx-UP research associate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays at (671) 735-0215 or via email at radxup@triton.uog.edu. The project is also on Facebook as “UOG RADx-UP Protecting Life Project.”
