Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109174

Susan Mayfield-Johnson, ABD, MPH, CHES¹, Brenda Booth, BSLW², Joe Ann Askew, BS², Angela Williams, CHW², Alice Hardy, CHW², Louise Jordan, BS², Clemmie Nelson-Morgan, BS², Tunga Nelson, CHW², and Lillie Peterson, BA². (1) Center for Sustainable Health Outreach, University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive #10015, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, 601-266-6266, Susan.Johnson@usm.edu, (2) CHARPs, Deep South Network for Cancer Control, 735 Longstreet Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39401

While community health workers are vital to improving community wellness, so many of these programs focus on changes in levels of morbidity and mortality as they correspond to the nature and funding of the particular health issue. While concepts of empowerment and community participatory research are envisioned, little attention is really given to the community health worker, with the exception of describing how one is used.

Community health workers are change agents, yet we seem to overlook how the change agent changes. This session will describe how one such process occurs in a group of volunteer community health advisors. Presented solely by community health advisors, this session will document the transformational change process through personal accounts and pictures. The primary presenters have not yet been identified, as the study is currently in process but will be completed prior to that annual meeting.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of the presentation, participants should be able to describe the transformational change process of community health advisors in a cancer education program.

Keywords: Community Health Advisor, Community Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.