Community health workers: Central to systems navigation and community based participatory research


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

3072.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - Board 3

Abstract #109628

Carla Clasen, RN/MPH¹, Kimberly Conner², Cecelia Smith, CHRA³, Dionne Henderson, BS¹, and William Tindall, PhD, RPh³. (1) Center for Healthy Communities, Wright State University, 140 East Monument Avenue, Dayton, OH 45402, 937 775 1119, carla.clasen@wright.edu, (2) Community Health Advocate Division, Wright State University Center for Healthy Communities, 444 W. Third St., 13-204, Dayton, OH 45402, (3) Dept. Family Medicine/Alliance for Research in Community Health, Wright State University, P.O. Box 927, Dayton, OH 45401

Increasingly the community health worker is becoming an important member of the public health care team. Traditionally, CHWs offer health education, link community members to available services and advocate on the part of the underserved. Emerging roles for CHWs include patient navigator and community based participatory researcher. In the Dayton, Ohio community, CHWs who receive training at the local community college are engaged throughout the local health and humans services industry. Locally, Community Health Advocates serve as outreach workers to enroll individuals in public assistance programs and as navigators to assist kinship caregivers in negotiating the social services system. In addition, the Alliance for Research in Community Health in the school of medicine has created and filled the position of Community Health Research Advocate, who assists with community based research. This workshop will review the necessary components of a successful CHW program and highlight best practices including community academic partnerships as a foundation for successful programs, workforce development as ongoing support for successful programs, and customer satisfaction as the launching point for significant changes in health status among those served by CHWs. Additionally, the additions to the training program for CHWs, a unit on community participatory research, and use of health information technology systems will be reviewed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

1. Describe the specialized functions of the community health worker including community health research advocate, kinship care navigator and the community health advocate
2. Articulate common training and evaluation processes for each of these community health worker roles
3. Link national standards for competency to community college curriculum development for community health workers in multiple roles

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.

Other Important CHW Issues

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA