The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42598

Nedra Lisovicz, MPH, CHES and Susan Mayfield-Johnson, MPH, CHES. Center for Sustainable Health Outreach, University of Southern Mississippi, Box 10015, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, 601-261-6756, Nedra.Lisovicz@usm.edu

In many underserved and minority communities, health care and service providers find it hard to provide services to what many people call ?hard to reach? populations. One example of this population is migrant farm workers. Community health workers, also called lay health workers or community health advisors, can bridge the gap between their community and the health care system by providing culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate messages to community members. The Community Health Advisor model of community organization and education has been used effectively in the Delta of Mississippi and is now being modeled by the NCI funded Deep South Network for Cancer Control in both Mississippi and Alabama. This project seeks to spread cancer awareness messages in underserved and minority populated areas of both states by training Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (CHARPs) to spread the messages within their social networks. The purpose of this session is to help health educators and program planners effectively influence the health of community members, even ?hard to reach? populations, by training community members from the community they wish to reach. Evaluations of community health advisor programs are generally difficult because the workers are volunteers, however by using pre and post-training questionnaires and gathering data about the volunteers themselves as well as talking to community members, a picture of the changes in the community from the program can be provided.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how community health workers can be the link between communities and researchers;
• Identify potential community health advisors in a community; and
• Discuss ways to keep community health workers interested in your program.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Community Participation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Deep South Network for Cancer Control
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: grants, employment