Predictors and a Framework for Fostering Community Advocacy as a Community Health Worker Core Function to Eliminate Health Disparities

Authors: Sabo et al.

In the United States, CHWs have been recognized as integral to providing patient-centered care and reducing health inequalities among disenfranchised groups. The workforce impact of CHWs is far-reaching in the realms of the prevention
and control of chronic and infectious disease, the reduction of health care costs, and improved outreach, communication, and adherence, as well as in connecting clients to existing services. Using a mixed-method, participatory research approach, this paper investigates factors related to community health worker (CHW) community advocacy that affect social determinants of health and proposes a framework to conceptualize, support, and evaluate CHW advocacy and the iterative processes they engage in.