Interprofessional Teamwork and Collaboration Between Community Health Workers and Healthcare Teams: An Integrative Review

Authors: Catherine M. Franklin, Jean M. Bernhardt, Ruth Palan Lopez, Ellen R. Long-Middleton, and Sheila Davis

Community health workers (CHWs) can improve outcomes for underserved people. Evidence exists that CHW interventions in underserved populations improve health care management, disease prevention, and health promotion. Community health workers improve management of chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, maternal–child health issues, increase health promotion activities such as vaccinations and cancer screening, and demonstrate net cost savings. Based on this evidence, interest in new CHW models has grown. Delivery systems strive to improve health care access, improve cultural congruence, and address quality and cost among the growing immigrant population and other underserved, isolated, and vulnerable people. The CHW model presents an opportunity to achieve these goals.

Despite the strong evidence to support the use of CHWs and the nationally recognized need for collaborative practice in care provision, the nature and degree of teamwork and collaboration with CHWs within health care teams is not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of this integrative literature review was to examine interprofessional teamwork and collaboration with CHWs in research demonstrating positive health outcomes as a result of CHW intervention.