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.
United States of America
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.
Linking community-based blood pressure measurement to clinical care: a randomized controlled trial of outreach and tracking by community health workers.
This study assessed the effectiveness of enhanced tracking and follow-up services provided by community health workers in promoting medical follow-up of persons whose elevated blood pressures were detected during blood pressure measurement at urban community sites. The primary outcome measure was completion of a medical follow-up visit within 90 days of referral. Results showed … [Read more...] about Linking community-based blood pressure measurement to clinical care: a randomized controlled trial of outreach and tracking by community health workers.
