Development of Training Curriculum to Improve Patient Communication Skills and Social Support Among Community Health Workers

Authors: Jennifer Holcomb, Gayla M Ferguson, Logan Thornton, Linda Highfield

The aim of this paper was to test and implement a pilot training curriculum focused on building communication skills between CHWs and patients. The curriculum was implemented in three training sessions over WebEx with several state-certified CHWs. The goal of these training sessions was for CHWs to better understand the key elements and applications of active listening, Teach Back, and action planning in a clinical setting. While results demonstrated active participation in the training and well-prepared instructors, there was less agreement that the course was relevant. CHWs reported an increase in understanding of active listening and action planning, capability of using Teach Back and providing social support, and ability to teach, whereas a decrease was reported in their capability to use action planning. While these findings suggest a need for clinical workflow integration tools, they also emphasize that future training should include CHWs in planning to provide insight into their scope of work.