Translating a community-based, healthy homes asthma intervention to two public housing developments: Successes and challenges of the community health worker model

Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been shown to be effective in improving health outcomes, especially in poor and underserved communities. The Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) has a well-established CHW model, implementing asthma interventions in disadvantaged Chicago communities for the past twelve years. Asthma affects 25% of children living in these communities compared to 13.8% nationally. In 2011, SUHI sought to assess the feasibility of successfully implementing an asthma intervention in two Chicago public housing developments. The study addresses asthma disparities through a multi-pronged approach, aiming to improve asthma by educating families to better manage asthma medically, while also addressing the disproportionate presence of asthma triggers in the home. This is done through the expertise of CHWs, who make six home visits over a year. CHWs are residents of the public housing development in which they work to educate children and adults with asthma. CHWs do not need to have any prior experience, but a dedication to serve their community. They are trained extensively on asthma management by the program and are evaluated prior to providing education in the community. CHWs also serve as a liaison between community members and social and medical services. CHWs work to actively engage their fellow residents to enroll them into the program, improve asthma control, attend building education sessions, and asthma support groups. This presentation will discuss preliminary results, feasibility of translation, and best practices in terms of hiring and training CHWs, engaging difficult to reach community members, and evaluating CHW models.