Community health workers have become increasingly important in the U.S. health care system, playing a significant role in basic health promotion and care coordination; however, their status and visibility have not kept pace with their wider use. A major impediment has been the absence of systematic preparation-the field needs standardized education in programs that emphasize … [Read more...] about CHWs get credit: a 10-year history of the first college-credit certificate for community health workers in the United States.
Community Health Workers/Volunteers
Educating Hispanic women about breast cancer prevention: evaluation of a home-based promotora-led intervention.
Trained community health promoters (i.e., promotoras) conducted home-based group educational interventions (home health parties) to educate Hispanic women from the Lower Yakima Valley of Washington state about breast cancer and mammography screening. Changes in general cancer knowledge, breast cancer screening practices, and intentions to be screened among participants … [Read more...] about Educating Hispanic women about breast cancer prevention: evaluation of a home-based promotora-led intervention.
Factors influencing the retention and attrition of community health aides/practitioners in Alaska.
The Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) is a unique program employing local, indigenous peoples as primary care nonphysician providers in extremely remote frontier, tribal Alaskan communities. With attrition rates up to 20%, recommendations for improving retention are necessary to maintain access to health services for Alaska Natives in these communities. The purpose of … [Read more...] about Factors influencing the retention and attrition of community health aides/practitioners in Alaska.
Encouraging Vietnamese-American women to obtain Pap tests through lay health worker outreach and media education.
Five times more Vietnamese-American women develop cervical cancer than white women. Few studies have examined whether community-based participatory research can effectively address Asian immigrants' health problems. This article reports the preliminary evaluation of 1 such project. At post-intervention, significantly more LHWO+ME women understood that human papillomavirus … [Read more...] about Encouraging Vietnamese-American women to obtain Pap tests through lay health worker outreach and media education.
The impact of lay health advisors on cardiovascular health promotion: using a community-based participatory approach.
Overweight and obesity, lack of exercise, and exposure to tobacco smoke are clearly identified behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These problems disproportionately affect some communities. To address these problems within one community of underserved Latinos, participatory research methods were used to design an outreach program. Latina lay health advisors … [Read more...] about The impact of lay health advisors on cardiovascular health promotion: using a community-based participatory approach.