Brianna Catherine Rooney

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Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Koch, B., Arora, M., Rooney, B., Thompson, A., Scott, B., Gomez, D., Galindo, M., Ward, K., Wightman, P., & Derksen, D. (2024). Promoting Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations in Rural and Underserved Arizona: Experiences From Three County Health Departments. American Journal of Public Health, 114. doi:10.2105/ajph.2024.307714
• Block Ngaybe, M., Schmitt, H., Mallahan, S., Sena, R., Werts, S., Rooney, B., Magrath, P., & Madhivanan, P. (2023). Qualitative assessment of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among healthcare workers in Pima County. Qualitative Health Research, 19(1). doi:10.1080/21645515.2023.2211464
  More info

  In the Spring of 2021, the COVID-19 vaccination was authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are one of the most trusted sources of information for vaccination choices. However, HCWs at this time appeared to continue to have lower rates of COVID-19 vaccination uptake than expected in Arizona. The objective of this study was to examine factors that play a role in the vaccination decision-making process among Arizona HCWs. Between January and April 2021, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted among physicians, emergency medical technicians and long-term care nurses in Pima County. The informed consent process was completed for each participant. The interview guide was informed by the Increasing Vaccination model to collect information on vaccination decision-making. A codebook was developed using an inductive approach. Coding and analysis was conducted using the software MAXQDA. Participants were primarily male (11/18, 61%) and white (11/18, 61%). Three participants identified as Hispanic. Initial themes that emerged included: mixed opinions concerning the innovations in COVID-19 vaccine development, access-related barriers, issues related to distribution inequities, concerns about misinformation and conspiracy theories, and dialogue concerning the benefits of requiring mandatory vaccination. The results gathered from this study indicate that there continues to be hesitancy among some healthcare professionals in Pima County. These results will be used to help Arizonan Health Departments promote rollout of novel vaccines more effectively through targeting relevant vaccination decision-making factors among HCWs.

Presentations

• Rooney, B. C., & Arora, M. (2025, February). Beyond the Urban Heat Island: Rural Arizona’s Hidden Heat Crisis. 2025 Arizona Rural Health Policy Forum. Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Center for Rural Health.
• Rooney, B. C. (2024, June). Examining Arizona's Quality Improvement Infrastructure Assessment. 50th Annual Arizona Rural Health Conference. Flagstaff, AZ: Arizona Center for Rural Health.
• Rooney, B. C. (2024, March). Introduction to Healthcare Hazard and Vulnerability Analysis. Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response Quarterly Meeting. Virtual: Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response.

Others

• Rooney, B. C., Rooney, B. C., Peters, J. S., Peters, J. S., Derksen, D. J., Derksen, D. J., Koch, B. D., Koch, B. D., Arora, M., & Arora, M. (2024, April 23). Arizona Public Health System Capacity: COVID-19 Action Item Summary. Arizona Center for Rural Health. https://crh.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-04/240422AZPH%20System%20Capacity%20Action%20Summary.pdf
• Arora, M., Rooney, B. C., & Koch, B. D. (2023, September). Arizona Public Health Workforce: Recruitment and Retention. Arizona Center for Rural Health. https://crh.arizona.edu/arizona-public-health-workforce-recruitment-and-retention
• Koch, B. D., Moore, M., Rooney, B. C., Arora, M., & Peters, J. S. (2023, August). Public Health System Capacity in Arizona: Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. Arizona Center for Rural Health. https://crh.arizona.edu/public-health-system-capacity-arizona-learning-covid-19-pandemic-response
  More info

  The Advancing Health Equity, Addressing Disparities (AHEAD AZ) project is housed in the Arizona Center for Rural Health (AzCRH) at the University of Arizona. The ArizonaDepartment of Health Services (ADHS) funded this report via an interagency services agreement with AzCRH as part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national initiative to address COVID-19 health disparities among populations at high risk for morbidity and mortality. The public health system addresses acute diseases such as COVID-19, responds to natural disasters, identifies unmet health needs, makes recommendations and implements interventions to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. Businesses, schools, churches, organizations and individuals all play roles in improving community health. The U.S., state, county and local public health systems comprise the foundation for assuring the health of the community and responding to factors that threaten the health and well-being of individuals and communities by identifying problems and supporting solutions. Public health emphasizes prevention using education, awareness and other tools to help people avoid getting sick or injured. Public health works with partners to make sure our communities have what is needed to stay healthy including nutrition, clean air, safe water and access to services.The national, state and local public health systems are responsible for assessing what is needed to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of deathfor both the U.S. and Arizona - making it one of the top priorities for public health (CDC, 2022a, CDC, 2023). Arizona has COVID-19 morbidity and mortality disparities by factors including geography (rural >urban), income (low-income > high income), age (elderly > those less than age 65) (CDC, 2020). These alarming COVID-19 disparities in morbidity and mortality disproportionately affected rural, low-income, elderly and minority individuals and populations. These disparities require proactive interventions by public health systems to assess, prioritize, and act to better support community health.