scholarly journals Not a duty but an opportunity: exploring the lived experiences of community health workers in Indiana through photovoice

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan I. Logan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Prevention ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Health Care Workforce

Few studies have conducted photovoice projects to explore themes related to the lived experiences of community health workers (CHWs). As a relatively unknown segment of the health care workforce in the United States, CHWs are typically members of the communities they work within and fulfill unique and complementary roles through health education, health prevention, community outreach, and advocacy. This article documents a photovoice project that assessed the strengths, challenges, impacts, and what it means to be a CHW in Indiana. In this project, CHWs participated in the method of photovoice in two formal meetings – one to introduce the method and another to analyze the photographs. Participants displayed photographs, interpreted these images, and co-constructed their lived experiences. Several key themes emerged from discussion of the photographs including: participant descriptions of building individual and character traits, conceptualizations of this position, and how participants connect disparate resources for their clients. Themes and findings from this research can be utilized to reach out to potential employers and policy makers regarding the integration of CHWs into the workforce. Overall, this project documents the lived experiences of CHWs and highlights their voices as they become an accepted member within the broader workforce.

scholarly journals 3125 Acceptability of a Narrative Video to Enhance the Use of Genetic Counseling in Latina Women at-risk of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer: Community Health Worker’s Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 80-81
Author(s):  
Alejandra Hurtado de Mendoza ◽  
Kristi Graves ◽  
Sara Gómez-Trillos ◽  
Minna Song ◽  
Lyndsay Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
Patient Navigators ◽  
Latino Community

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The goal of the study was to assess the acceptability of a culturally targeted narrative video and identify potential avenues for dissemination in a sample of bilingual community health workers who provide services to the Latino community in the United States. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We piloted the video in a sample of bilingual community health workers who provide services to Latinos (n=31). After watching the video, participants filled out a survey. The survey captured sociodemographic data (e.g. education), their role and experience working with Latinos (e.g. patient navigators), acceptability of the video (e.g. general satisfaction, length of the video, amount of information), and potential dissemination (e.g., dissemination channels, preferred settings to watch the video, and preferred context). Three open ended questions captured information about how the video could be useful for the Latino community, what they liked the most from the video, and suggestions for improvement. Data was entered in SPSS version 25. We used descriptive statistics to analyze the survey, and content analysis to summarize the feedback from the open-ended questions. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Participants (n = 31) had an average age of 46 years (SD=16.99), all self-identified as Hispanic or Latinos, most were female (90.3%), and worked as patient navigators (29%) or community outreach workers (25.8%). The video’s general acceptability was very high. Participants reported high ratings for overall satisfaction, how much they liked the video, enjoyed it, and considered it to be interesting (all means >9.6, range 1-10). Most participants strongly agreed or agreed that the length was adequate (80.7%), that the information presented was very helpful (100%), that the video could be useful for the Latina community (96.8%), and that they would share the video with women at-risk of HBOC (100%). The highest endorsed channels for dissemination were Facebook (90.3) and YouTube (87.1%). The highest endorsed settings were community centers (100%), churches (96.8%), and hospitals (80.6%). Most participants (90.3%) considered that the best context to watch the video would be with relatives, followed by watching with other women at-risk of HBOC (71.0%), friends (71.0%), and lastly by oneself (41.9%) DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study represents a multidisciplinary approach to intervention development that aims to reduce well-documented knowledge gaps and disparities in the use of GCRA among at-risk Latinas. A culturally targeted video has the potential to reach underserved populations with low literacy and English proficiency and it can be widely disseminated. The video was well received by community health workers who reported high acceptability. These findings are promising given that community health workers could play a key role in the dissemination of the video if it is proven to be efficacious.

Bringing Community Health Workers into the Mainstream of U.S. Health Care

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Pittman ◽  
Anne Sunderland ◽  
Andrew Broderick ◽  
Kevin Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers

scholarly journals Brazil’s Community Health Workers Practicing Narrative Medicine: Patients’ Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogério Meireles Pinto ◽  
Rahbel Rahman ◽  
Margareth Santos Zanchetta ◽  
W. Galhego-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Narrative Medicine ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Patient Perspectives ◽  
Care Providers

Abstract Background Narrative medicine (NM) encourages health care providers to draw on their personal experiences to establish therapeutic alliances with patients of prevention and care services. NM medicine practiced by nurses and physicians has been well documented, yet there is little understanding of how community health workers (CHWs) apply NM concepts in their day-to-day practices from patient perspectives. Objective To document how CHWs apply specific NM concepts in Brazil’s Family Health Strategy (FHS), the key component of Brazil’s Unified Health System. Design We used a semi-structured interview, grounded in Charon’s (2001) framework, including four types of NM relationships: provider–patient, provider–colleague, provider–society, and provider–self. A hybrid approach of thematic analysis was used to analyze data from 27 patients. Key Results Sample: 18 females; 13 White, 12 “Pardo” (mixed races), 12 Black. We found: (1) provider–patient relationship—CHWs offered health education through compassion, empathy, trustworthiness, patience, attentiveness, jargon-free communication, and altruism; (2) provider–colleague relationship—CHWs lacked credibility as perceived by physicians, impacting their effectiveness negatively; (3) provider–society relationship—CHWs mobilized patients civically and politically to advocate for and address emerging health care and prevention needs; (4) provider–self relationship—patients identified possible low self-esteem among CHWs and a need to engage in self-care practices to abate exhaustion from intense labor and lack of resources. Conclusion This study adds to patient perspectives on how CHWs apply NM concepts to build and sustain four types of relationships. Findings suggest the need to improve provider–colleague relationships by ongoing training to foster cooperation among FHS team members. More generous organizational supports (wellness initiatives and supervision) may facilitate the provider–self relationship. Public education on CHWs’ roles is needed to enhance the professional and societal credibility of their roles and responsibilities. Future research should investigate how CHWs’ personality traits may influence their ability to apply NM.

scholarly journals Knowledge and attitudes of tuberculosis management in San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima, Peru

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 783-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Kiefer ◽  
Theresa Shao ◽  
Olveen Carrasquillo ◽  
Pamela Nabeta ◽  
Carlos Seas
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Knowledge Score ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes

Background: Expansion of the health care workforce in Peru to combat tuberculosis (TB) includes both professional health care providers (HCPs) such as doctors and nurses, and non-professional HCPs such as community health workers (CHWs). We describe the knowledge and attitudes of these HCPs, and identify modifiable barriers to appropriate anti-tuberculosis treatment.  Methodology: We surveyed HCPs practicing in 30 clinical settings (hospitals, community health centers, and health posts) in the San Juan de Lurigancho district of Eastern Lima, Peru. Multiple-choice questions were used to assess knowledge of TB. A five-item Likert scale was created to assess attitudes toward the community, patients, and clinics. Linear regression was used to identify predictors of mean knowledge score, and analysis of variance was used to test differences in HCP score.  Results: Of the 73 HCPs surveyed, 15% were professionals (doctors or nurses). The remaining 85% were health technicians, community health workers (CHWs) or students. The mean knowledge score was 10.0 ± 1.9 (maximum 14) with professional HCPs scoring higher than other HCPs (11.7 ± 1.1 vs. 9.7 ± 1.9), p < .01). Knowledge gaps included identification of patients at high risk for TB, assessment of treatment outcomes, and consequences of treatment failure. The most commonly cited modifiable barriers were structural, including laboratory facilities and staffing of TB clinics, with 52.1% and 62.5% of HCPs, respectively, citing these as problematic.  Conclusions: Efforts to improve knowledge of TB HCPs in Peru should focus on the specific gaps we have identified. Further research is needed to evaluate whether these knowledge gaps correlate with TB control.     

Authors’ Commentary: Domestic Violence Against Women, Public Policies and Community Health Workers in Brazilian Primary Health Care

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-239
Author(s):  
Marcos Signorelli ◽  
Angela Taft ◽  
Pedro Paulo Gomes Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Primary Health

In this commentary paper, we highlight the key role that community health workers and family health professionals can perform for the identification and care for women experiencing domestic violence in communities. These workers are part of the primary health-care strategy in the Brazilian public health system, who are available in every municipalities and neighborhoods of the country. Based on our ethnographic research, we argue that identification and care of abused women by these workers and professionals follow a pattern which we described and named “the Chinese whispers model.” We also point gaps in training these workers to deal with complex issues, such as domestic violence, arguing for the need of formal qualification for both community health workers and family health professionals by, for example, incorporating such themes into curricula, further education, and continuing professional development.

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