Role of Navigators in Community Health

“Navigators” are lay health workers with specialized training that prepares them to bridge health system resources to specific communities of need. Training new navigators and supporting the continuing education needs of practicing navigators is a process that challenges typically resource-thin health services programs. A desire to leverage anywhere/anytime online technologies in community health worker training motivated the development of “The Role of Navigators in Community Health.” This video provides an introduction to a series of four, multimedia learning resources designed to supplement face-to-face training and mentoring of navigators working with stroke patients in the underserved, inner-city neighborhoods of Washington, DC to avert onset of a second, typically more disabling, stroke. The navigation project is part of an randomized controlled trial, PROTECT DC, that studies the effectiveness of health navigators in prevention of secondary stroke among individuals at risk for health disparities. Navigators experienced in working with the target stroke prevention population, primarily African American and Latino, collaborated with media designers to develop this video that orients new navigators to the needs of patients in the DC, urban community. The video features re-enactments of authentic navigator experiences. Themes and motifs employed in the video, such as use of GPS navigation as a metaphor for patient navigation, were conceived by the navigators themselves.The decision to use video for the introductory module was grounded in a desire obviate issues of literacy. The alternated Spanish/English dialog featured in the video was a technique conceived by navigators to increase the sense of community and a “common language” between Spanish- and English-speaking navigators. Video editing was carried out with an eye to impact when viewed on a handheld, mobile device. Mobile access was identified by navigators as an important aspect of usefulness of materials, particularly within the younger, urban, African American culture.