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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community health workers

The Evolution, Expansion, and Effectiveness of Community Health Workers
Reviews the development of Community Health Worker roles, accomplishments, and future contributions in rural and urban settings. Discusses the education and training of CHWs, and includes a detailed table of their activities in promoting prevention and well-being.
Author(s): Randall R. Bovbjerg, Lauren Eyster, Barbara A. Ormond, Theresa Anderson, Elizabeth Richardson
Date: 12/2013
Sponsoring organization: Urban Institute
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Promising Approaches to Integrating Community Health Workers into Health Systems: Four Case Studies
Identifies the scope of practice, supervision, financing, and the workforce standards implemented by states and employers in the development of community health worker (CHW) programs. Four case studies that include rural counties illustrate the challenges and opportunities for integrating CHWs into health systems.
Author(s): Lauren Eyster, Randall R. Bovbjerg
Date: 12/2013
Sponsoring organization: Urban Institute
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Oregon Indigenous Farmworkers: Results of Promotor Intervention on Pesticide Knowledge and Organophosphate Metabolite Levels
Highlights a study on changes in health knowledge relating to pesticides of indigenous farmworkers in Oregon. Details the results of participants' pesticide knowledge from pre/post-intervention questionnaires and biological testing.
Author(s): Linda McCauley, Jennifer D. Runkle, Julie Samples, et al.
Citation: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 55(10), 1164-1170
Date: 10/2013
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Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Program in Public Health and Health Care Settings
Evaluates the effectiveness of a Community Health Worker system of care to help decrease coronary heart disease in primarily rural and frontier Colorado counties. Includes data and statistics broken down by age, risk factors, and geographic location.
Author(s): Mori J. Krantz, Stephanie M. Coronel, Elizabeth M. Whitley, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 103(1), 19-27
Date: 01/2013
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Refinement of an Educational Toolkit to Promote Cervical Cancer Screening among Hispanic Immigrant Women in Rural Southern Georgia
Describes a collaborative project using promotoras to develop and refine a Spanish language educational flipchart promoting cervical cancer screening and related topics for low-income, Hispanic farmworker women in rural southeast Georgia.
Author(s): Lisa C. Watson-Johnson, Jigar Bhagatwala, Claudia Reyes-Garcia, et al.
Citation: Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 23(4), 1704-1711
Date: 11/2012
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Innovative Primary Care Delivery in Rural Alaska: A Review of Patient Encounters Seen by Community Health Aides
Reviews outpatient visits to Community Health Aides (CHAs) and Community Health Practitioners (CHPs) from October 2004 to September 2006 to evaluate the scope of health problems seen by CHA/Ps in remote, rural Alaska to the Alaska Native population. Discusses how the program could serve as a healthcare delivery model for remote areas.
Author(s): Christine Golnick, Elvin Asay, Ellen Provost, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 71(1)
Date: 06/2012
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Salud es Vida: Development of a Cervical Cancer Education Curriculum for Promotora Outreach With Latina Farmworkers in Rural Southern Georgia
Discusses the development and evaluation of a community health worker curriculum intended to inform Hispanic farmworker women about cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV), and the HPV vaccine.
Author(s): John S. Luque, Mondi Mason, Claudia Reyes-Garcia, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 101(12), 2233-2235
Date: 12/2011
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Four U.S. Border States' Community Health Worker Training Needs Assessment
Assesses and identifies the training needs of community health workers (CHWs) to help design effective training programs in the U.S.-Mexico border region.
Author(s): Howard J. Eng, Ana Celia Hernandez-Martinez, Jasmen Dorian
Date: 12/2011
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Border Rural Health Research Center
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Promising Practices for Rural Community Health Worker Programs
Identifies six rural community health worker models in the literature and in practice: promotora, member of the care delivery team, care coordinator, health educator, outreach and enrollment agent, and community organizer and capacity builder.
Author(s): Alycia Infante, Alana Knudson, Alexa Brown
Date: 03/2011
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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Preparing the Interprofessional Healthcare Workforce to Address Health Behavior Change: Ensuring A High Quality and Cost-Effective Healthcare System
10th Annual Report to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Congress of the United States. Focuses on education and training needed to help the healthcare workforce promote positive health behaviors. Discusses task shifting to community members in rural areas such as the use of lay health workers, including promotoras and patient navigators.
Date: 09/2010
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Linkages
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