scholarly journals Community Health Workers and Community Based Research [Capstone College of Nursing, The University of Alabama]

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Hope Miller ◽  
Sarah Quick ◽  
Mary Ann Kelley ◽  
Cassandra D. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Effective Characteristics ◽  
Community Based Research

Background: Community health workers (CHWs) are widely utilized within public health to serve their target populations in various capacities. Based on the specific intervention and target population, a CHW’s role can be modified to include health education, public health initiatives, patient advocacy, and specific topic knowledge. A long-standing obstacle is the retention of CHWs and the efficacy of their work in the community. Purpose: The purpose of this review was to distinguish the most effective characteristics of CHWs. This framework will be used to improve and evaluate a current CHW program in rural Alabama that targets breast cancer awareness in African American women. Methods: Two major databases, PubMed and Google Scholar, were used to identify studies that met inclusion criteria from the years 2010 through 2017. From the search, 15 relevant articles were found that highlight the qualities of effective community health worker interventions. Results: There were five prominent themes which emerged from the literature. Traits that were seen as important for an effective CHW included having knowledge of the topic, being a member of the community, having social and cultural competency, taking a personalized approach with the participants, and the efficiency of incentive-based interventions. Implications for Women’s health: It is important to take into account the CHWs, stakeholders, and participants opinions on what makes the interventions most effective. CHWs are often the link between rural communities and healthcare access. The traits found in this review of literature can be implemented in choosing effective CHWs in future rural women’s health programs. Choosing culturally competent, knowledgeable women to bring breast cancer education to rural communities aids these women in improving their health, preventing future health problems, and providing them with knowledge for early detection of health issues.

scholarly journals Women’s Health Leadership to Enhance Community Health Workers as Change Agents

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Ingram ◽  
Jean Chang ◽  
Susan Kunz ◽  
Rosie Piper ◽  
Jill Guernsey de Zapien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Health ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Health Leadership

scholarly journals Improving Community Health Workers Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Breast Cancer in Rural Communities in Eastern Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 237s-237s
Author(s):  
V. okwor ◽  
K. Nwankwo ◽  
N. Lasebikan ◽  
I. Martin ◽  
I. Okoye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Screening ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The Mean

Background and context: Nigeria presently grapples with a high burden of all forms of cancers with breast cancer being the most common and most lethal with estimated 27,304 new cases and 13,960 deaths annually. Poor knowledge of breast cancer and the wrong perception about its treatment is pervasive among many Nigerian women particularly those in rural communities leading to late presentation and poor treatment outcomes. Community health workers (CHWs) are at the forefront of closing the knowledge gap and improving on attitude toward breast cancer and its treatment in these rural settings through provision of an effective cancer patient care and support. Against this backdrop, the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital-Breast cancer support group (UNTH-BCSG) was established by a group of health professionals involved in caring for cancer patients in the eastern parts of the country. The consortium provides education and supports to breast cancer patients, training support to community health workers for early detection and prompt referral, carry out community outreach and education in both urban and rural communities, free cancer screening services to communities, as well as creating and supporting systems that effectively links cancer patients from the community level to the treatment centers. Aim: To implement a training program aimed at improving community health workers knowledge of and attitude toward breast cancer in selected rural communities in eastern Nigeria. Strategy/Tactics: A cross-sectional study design was used to select total of 521 health workers drawn across the 7 randomly selected local government areas in Enugu state, southeastern Nigeria. Respondents' level of knowledge and attitude toward breast cancer was assessed before and after the training. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire, while data analysis was done with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) version 20. Program/Policy process: Advocacy and campaign on breast cancer screening. Outcomes: Out of a total 521 CHWs with a mean age of 37.71 ± 8.789 years, majority of the workers were females (92.9%), married (74.1%) received formal trainings in community health education (67.3%). Prior to training, only 18.4% of respondents had ever screened for breast cancer, while 68.3% practice breast self-examination. T-test analysis showed that the mean knowledge score of breast cancer (6.86 ± 2.48), mean knowledge of risk of breast cancer (5.69 ± 3.15) and the mean attitude toward breast cancer score (5.98 ± 3.04), significantly improved with the training program to 7.56 ± 2.29, 10.62 ± 3.09, and 7.21 ± 2.69 respectively ( P < 0.01). What was learned: Community health worker still need more sustained training as they operate at the grass root of health care system. Every little assistance will be translated to reduced cancer morbidity and a lot of lives being saved through early detection.

scholarly journals An innovative approach to improve the detection and treatment of risk factors in poor urban settings: a feasibility study in Argentina

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Poggio Rosana ◽  
Goodarz Danaei ◽  
Laura Gutierrez ◽  
Ana Cavallo ◽  
María Victoria Lopez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Cvd Risk Factors ◽  
Cvd Risk

Abstract Background The effective management of cardiovascular (CVD) prevention among the population with exclusive public health coverage in Argentina is low since less than 30% of the individuals with predicted 10-year CVD risk ≥10% attend a clinical visit for CVD risk factors control in the primary care clinics (PCCs). Methods We conducted a non-controlled feasibility study using a mixed methods approach to evaluate acceptability, adoption and fidelity of a multi-component intervention implemented in the public healthcare system. The eligibility criteria were having exclusive public health coverage, age ≥ 40 years, residence in the PCC’s catchment area and 10-year CVD risk ≥10%. The multi-component intervention addressed (1) system barriers through task shifting among the PCC’s staff, protected medical appointments slots and a new CVD form and (2) Provider barriers through training for primary care physicians and CHW and individual barriers through a home-based intervention delivered by community health workers (CHWs). Results A total of 185 participants were included in the study. Of the total number of eligible participants, 82.2% attended at least one clinical visit for risk factor control. Physicians intensified drug treatment in 77% of participants with BP ≥140/90 mmHg and 79.5% of participants with diabetes, increased the proportion of participants treated according to GCP from 21 to 32.6% in hypertensive participants, 7.4 to 33.3% in high CVD risk and 1.4 to 8.7% in very high CVD risk groups. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were lower at the end of follow up (156.9 to 145.4 mmHg and 92.9 to 88.9 mmHg, respectively) and control of hypertension (BP < 140/90 mmHg) increased from 20.3 to 35.5%. Conclusion The proposed CHWs-led intervention was feasible and well accepted to improve the detection and treatment of risk factors in the poor population with exclusive public health coverage and with moderate or high CVD risk at the primary care setting in Argentina. Task sharing activities with CHWs did not only stimulate teamwork among PCC staff, but it also improved quality of care. This study showed that community health workers could have a more active role in the detection and clinical management of CVD risk factors in low-income communities.

scholarly journals Design of Mobile Application for Community Health Workers: A Case Study in Rwanda

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Gahizi Emmanuel ◽  
Andi Wahju Rahardjo Emanuel ◽  
Djoko Budiyanto Setyohadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Adequate Knowledge

Community health workers (CHWs) are the basis of public health services that aim to connect the gap between public health and the human service system. This gap can be completely bridged by navigating the health and human service systems and educating communities on disease prevention. Unfortunately, the way of sharing, accessing information, and delivering health services is still non-digitalized in Rwanda. Community Health workers use a manual system in their daily activities, which is prone to error and falsification. Moreover, these people selected to perform these activities often do not have adequate knowledge about diseases and health systems since they are not professional health workers. To address the above problem, we designed a prototype mobile application to enable these workers to automatically submit reports, transfer knowledge, share information, and receive training from professionals.  The design process followed a User-Centered Design approach to meet the users’ requirements. The evaluation of the design showed that 91.7% of the CHWs agreed with the designed application prototype.  This finding shows that CHWs has an interest in using the mobile application in their work. Using the mobile application will help CHWs to improve data collection, the reporting process, and ease of receiving training.

Global health's durable dreams: ethnography, ‘community health workers’ and health without health infrastructure

Africa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Ramah McKay
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Global Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Officials

AbstractTracing the persistence of community health workers (CHWs) as a key category in both global health policy and anthropological representation, this article asks how enduring scholarly investments in CHWs can reveal changing political stakes for both health work and ethnographic research. Amid renewed calls for a focus on health systems and universal health coverage, the article suggests that the durability of attention to CHWs is instructive. It simultaneously points to the imbrication of health with political and social relations and clinical and technological infrastructures as well as to how ethnographic investments in health systems can sometimes obscure the ambivalent politics of health. Drawing on fieldwork with CHWs, NGO staff and public health officials, and on public health literature on CHWs, it argues for greater attention to the political ambivalence of health labour. It suggests that the experiences of health workers themselves can serve as analytical examples in this regard, pointing to analyses that begin not with normative notions of health systems or the conceptual boundaries of global health ‘projects’ but with a focus on the contested relations through which health labour is realized over time. Such attention can also indicate possibilities for health beyond dreams of projects, clinics or health systems.

scholarly journals KNOWLEDGE, MOTIVATION, TRAINING AMONG VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Achmad Farich ◽  
Dewi Kusumaningsih ◽  
Sosya Mona Seprianti
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
Bivariate Analysis ◽  
P Value ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Public Health Centre ◽  
Intensive Training

Background: Integrated Service Post (Posyandu) is one form of community based health efforts which is managed and implemented by volunteer community health workers. That performance is very important to monitor the toddlers. The coverage of toddlers weighed at Ngaras at public health Service has decreased by 2014 reached of 87.0% in 2015 reached of 100.4% in 2016 reached of 64.0% but in 2017 it only reached of 68,2%.Purpose: To know the correlation of knowledge, motivation, training among volunteer community health workers at public health services West Pesisir Province of Lampung  2018.Methods: Quantitative research type with cross sectional design and population recruited  all of volunteer community health workers. Data collected by using questionnaire sheets. Analysis of data used univariate and bivariate (Chi Square).Results: The results showed that the volunteer community health workers have best performance with number of 45 volunteers (69,2%) comparing with who has a poor performance with number of 20 volunteer (30,8%). Based on bivariate analysis following in several parts of the volunteer such as knowledge with  p-value of 0,001 OR 4,889 (1,5 to 15,3 95% CI), motivation with p-value 0,034 OR 3,778 (1,2 to 11,4 95% CI), and the training with p-value 0,009 OR 5,429 (1,6 to 17,8 95% CI).Conclusion: There is a relation of knowledge, motivation and training for the performance of volunteer community health workers. It is suggested to management of public health centre on Ngaras to conduct more intensive training related to volunteer training which includes knowledge sharing which will improve on volunteer community health workers performance on task, and motivation to intensify duty of passion of volunteer community health workers

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