Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38959814›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2024

Who's in control? Situating expertise, (mis)trust, and power among the Latine/Hispanic community in COVID-19's liminal moments.

D Grace Smith, A Rani Elwy, Rochelle K Rosen, Mario Bueno, Indra Neil Sarkar

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. "Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

D Grace SmithAdvance Clinical and Translational Research, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
A Rani ElwyAdvance Clinical and Translational Research, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Rochelle K RosenAdvance Clinical and Translational Research, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
Mario BuenoProgreso Latino, Central Falls, RI, USA.
Indra Neil SarkarAdvance Clinical and Translational Research, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Center for Biomedical Informatics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Rhode Island Quality Institute, Providence, RI, USA. Electronic address: neil_sarkar@brown.edu.

Funding

Tracking and Evaluation CoreU54GM115677 · NIGMS · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI ROUNDS, SHARON IRENE SMITH · 2016 to 2025
$45.0M
HSR&D Research Career Scientist AwardIK6HX003765 · VA · EDITH NOURSE ROGERS MEMORIAL VETERANS HOSPITAL · PI Anashua RANI Elwy · 2023 to 2026
–
HSRD VA IK6 HX003765NIGMS NIH HHS U54 GM115677
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundResearch has established the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BIPOC) communities, and the barriers to vaccine trust and access among these populations. Focusing on perceptions of safety, access, and trustworthiness, studies often attach barriers to community-members, and discuss vaccines as if developed from an objective perspective, or "view from nowhere" (Haraway).

objectiveWe sought to follow Haraway's concept of "situated knowledges," whereby no one truth exists, and information is understood within its context, to understand the exertions of expertise surrounding vaccines. We focused on perceptions of power among a BIPOC community during a relatively unexamined moment, wherein the status of the pandemic and steps to prevent it were particularly uncertain.

methodsWe report the findings of ten focus groups conducted among members of Rhode Island's Latine/Hispanic communities between December 2021 and May 2022. We called this time COVID-19's liminal moment because vaccines were distributed, mandates were lifted, vaccine efficacy was doubted, and new strains spread. We translated, transcribed, and analyzed focus groups using thematic analysis.

resultsCommunity-member (n = 65) perceptions of control aligned with three key themes: (1) no power is capable of controlling COVID-19, (2) we are the objects of scientific and political powers, and (3) we, as individuals and communities, can control COVID-19 through our decisions and actions.

conclusionsBy centering the perspectives of a minoritized community, we situated the scientific knowledge produced about COVID-19 within the realities of imperfect interventions, uncontrollable situations, and medical power-exertions. We argue that medical knowledge should not be assumed implicitly trustworthy, or even capable, but instead seen as one of many products of human labor within human systems. Trust and trustworthiness must be mutually negotiated between experts, contexts, and communities through communication, empowerment, and justice.

Indexed as

COVID-19Hispanic or LatinoTrustAdultCOVID-19 VaccinesFemaleFocus GroupsHumansMaleMiddle AgedPower, PsychologicalRhode IslandCOVID-19 VaccinesEquityLatinxPowerQualitativeSituated knowledgesTrustVaccine

Identifiers

PMID38959814
PMCPMC11329343

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.