Lessons learned in the development of a type 2 diabetes prevention train-the-trainer curriculum for community health workers

The CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation finds community health workers (CHWs) to be crucial in providing ethnic minorities with type 2 diabetes prevention information and in creating links between health care providers and community members. SciMetrika was contracted by the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) to help develop the Road to Health (RTH) Toolkit and train-the-trainer materials to prepare CHWs and CHW trainers to outfit representatives from African American and Hispanic/Latino communities with the tools and skills needed to promote prevention of type 2 diabetes. To prepare the trainers to teach others in their communities, NDEP and SciMetrika implemented a series of day-long English and Spanish language sessions with CHWs and CHW trainers were. Information gathered at these sessions and afterward from urban and rural African American and Hispanic/Latino CHWs and CHW trainers was used to refine the population-specific modules of the RTH Toolkit. This informal feedback from CHWs also prompted the development of a Training Guide and Training Video explaining how to use the RTH Toolkit and identifying possible dissemination methods (e.g., training sessions) for CHWs who did not attend the train-the-trainer sessions. This presentation will focus on the role played by CHWs and the lessons learned in the development of the RTH Toolkit and train-the-trainer materials.