What are core competencies that describe the community health worker practice and how do we help develop them

Community health workers have played an essential role in helping people access health care services, embrace positive health behaviors, and navigate complicated treatment regimens for conditions such as cancer, diabetes, asthma and HIV/AIDS. CHWs provide invaluable guidance, support and empathy in a culturally and socially appropriate way. The CHW model has also been found particularly effective in health promotion initiatives and in programs that seek to create positive change in health seeking behaviors among vulnerable and under-served populations. As community members, community health workers are able to integrate health information about prevention of disease and the health system into the community's culture, language, and value systems. Therefore, they reduce cultural, linguistic, social, and financial barriers to health care. As the CHW model gains recognition CHWs are finding themselves in numerous new and emerging roles, such as patient navigators and natural researchers. Much attention has focused on training CHWs in the health-specific topics of these public health interventions. The lack of policy and practice directives for training CHWs has led to fragmented and localized training efforts with no clear common goals. This session will examine the core competencies that have come to describe the practice of CHWs and the importance of helping CHWs develop these essential skills through the experiences of a CHW presenter. The session will also examine the policy and planning implications in developing standard trainings for CHWs through the experiences of a statewide public/private partnership that develops CHW programs.