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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Heather H. Honore, MSW¹, Dieula Delissaint, MPH², Nia Davis, MEd², Daphne Watkins, MPH², Dhananjaya Arekere, PhD², Lee Green, PhD², and Brian Rivers, PhD². (1) Department of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, Mail Stop 4243, College Station, TX 77843-4243, 979-458-0097, hhhonore@hlkn.tamu.edu, (2) Center for the Study of Health Disparities, Texas A&M University, 4222 TAMU, 112 Harrington Tower, College Station, TX 77845

In the face of rising healthcare costs, many agencies are exploring cost saving options. Increasing collaborative efforts between health care professionals is one method. For instance, collaboration between health educators and social workers is an important way to share a variety of resources, reduce cost and increase program effectiveness. Health educators and social workers often practice in clinical and human service agency settings that provide programs and services to the chronically ill. As a result, these professionals often provide services for the same clients and their families. Health educators employ a variety of methods to inform clients about issues related to their specific health condition and to produce health-related behavioral change. Social workers assess psychosocial and other environmental factors that affect individual well-being and generate client-centered, multi-system treatment plans. Despite the overlapping nature of many of the means and end goals, literature providing motivation for collaborative relationships or reviewing collaborative efforts are nonexistent. This presentation attempts to address this gap by developing a collaboration model that is based on the Black, Dornan, and Allegrante multidisciplinary organizational model that offers an overarching framework for understanding how the collaboration can be formally established and sustained. The revised model contains elements of the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) Responsibilities and Competencies and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Standards for Social Work in Health Care Settings. Not only is the presentation expected to increase collaborations between health educators and social workers in the field, but also between researchers in the two disciplines.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe 3 specific roles and responsibilities of health educators and social workers.
• List and describe each construct of the revised Black, Dornan, and Allegrante collaboration model.
• Articulate how the revised collaboration model applies to general clinical and human service agency settings and research.

Keywords: Collaboration, Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation