Addressing Training Gaps: A Competency-Based, Telehealth Training Initiative for Community Health Workers

Increasing U.S. Maternal Health Equity Among Immigrant Populations Through Community Engagement

Immigrant women in the United States are at an elevated risk of poor maternal health outcomes due to cultural, linguistic, or socioeconomic barriers that may lead to critical delays in obtaining adequate health care. Ensuring access to high-quality, culturally appropriate perinatal health care is crucial to improve the health and well-being of immigrant mothers and their children. Various aspects of perinatal health care for immigrant women can be improved through community engagement strategies. Barriers can be addressed by involving community members in designing and delivering culturally appropriate maternal health services. Some strategies discussed in this commentary include working with community health workers, encouraging telehealth through community health workers, providing breastfeeding and mental health support within cultural norms, and involving community-based doulas and midwives.

Preparing Community Health Workers to Empower Latino(a)s With Diabetes: A Real-World Implementation Study

PURPOSE

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the delivery of diabetes self-management education (DSME) to Latino(a) adults by community health workers (CHWs).

METHODS

Investigators developed an evidence-based, bilingual (Spanish/English) diabetes education curriculum and trained 10 CHWs on its content. CHWs then implemented the curriculum in 6-month diabetes group visit programs for low-income Latino(a)s with type 2 diabetes in nonacademic 501(c)3 community clinics. Investigators evaluated efficacy of the training through successful implementation, measured by participant group visit acceptance and attendance.

RESULTS

Participants (n = 70) reported high levels of program satisfaction (3.8/4.0), improvement in quality of life (9.7/10), meeting of individual needs (3.8/4.0), and acceptability (9.7/10.0). Content analyses revealed that 87.1% of participants would not change the program or wanted to extend it. Participant attendance was 81.6%.

CONCLUSIONS

Investigators demonstrated the ability to develop a training that nonmedical personnel (CHWs) successfully implemented in a real-world study. This study provides a curricular framework for CHW-led education that may serve as a template to extend to other diseases and populations.