Ethical principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR)--specifically, community engagement, mutual learning, action-reflection, and commitment to sustainability--are particularly relevant in cancer disparities research because vulnerable populations are often construed to be powerless, supposedly benefiting from programs over which they have no control. The long … [Read more...] about Community health workers support community-based participatory research ethics: lessons learned along the research-to-practice-to-community continuum.
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Best Practice Guidelines for Implementing and Evaluating Community Health Worker Programs in Health Care Settings
There is a growing movement among health care organizations to adopt the Community Health Worker (CHW) model into their system as a way to provide comprehensive care to patients and community members. At the same time there is uncertainty about how to implement the CHW model to achieve better patient outcomes, higher quality of care, and lower health care … [Read more...] about Best Practice Guidelines for Implementing and Evaluating Community Health Worker Programs in Health Care Settings
Quality Improvement in Diabetes Care Using Community Health Workers
Community health centers take care of patients who are at high risk for adverse medical outcomes because of poverty, linguistic isolation, poor education, and poor health habits. Because of their population focus, health centers are positioned to implement systems-level changes affecting many patients. This article discusses the quality improvement initiatives at Holyoke … [Read more...] about Quality Improvement in Diabetes Care Using Community Health Workers
Teaching how, not what: the contributions of community health workers to diabetes self-management.
The purpose of this study is to describe ways in which community health workers (CHWs) are used in various clinic and community settings to support diabetes self-management (DSM). The assistance CHWs reported providing was most often in form of encouragement/motivation. During interviews, patients shared that CHWs were helpful in demonstrating how to incorporate DSM into their … [Read more...] about Teaching how, not what: the contributions of community health workers to diabetes self-management.
Measuring return on investment of outreach by community health workers.
Community health workers (CHWs) are effective in improving access to health care, promoting client knowledge and behavior change, and contributing to improved health status of individuals. However, few outreach programs have evaluated the financial impact of CHWs on health care systems and policies. A longitudinal repeated measures design was used to assess the return on … [Read more...] about Measuring return on investment of outreach by community health workers.