A Promotora Health Education Model for Improving Latino Health Care in

Purpose: To describe the process of training promotores to be effective communicators of public health insurance information, age-appropriate use of health care and preventive services.

Methods: Developed and conducted promotor/a training curriculum to 20 male and female Hispanic community health workers on delivering an educational intervention around health care access to low-income Latino adults and elders (n=400). Training modules focused on participant recruitment, motivational interviewing techniques, public insurance program eligibility, appropriate use of health care and preventive services, and the importance of having health insurance and a medical home. Promotores conducted survey interviews with participants to assess their health care access experiences and assisted participants in developing plans to resolve their health care issues.

Results: Promotores needed ongoing support and advice from project coordinator to effectively conduct participant interviews and deliver the intervention. Monthly meetings were necessary and included having open discussions around shared promotor/a experiences, answering questions about the intervention, ongoing training on how to complete data collection forms and providing feedback on their efforts. Promotores experienced challenges in documenting participant health care experiences, recruiting elder participants and in developing individualized participant plans. Lessons learned from this intervention will be shared with participants.

Discussion: Exploring the feasibility of training promotores in a new role was challenging. The promotores' desire to help participants was a determining force for project success. Promotores needed ongoing feedback, support and oversight to develop and utilize new skills in patient counseling, care planning and their newest role, as health services researchers.