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Rural Health Information Hub

Community Health Workers in Rural Settings – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Community Health Workers in Rural Settings.

Using Community Health Workers and Volunteers to Reach Complex Needs Populations
A recorded webinar that discusses how to integrate community health workers (CHWs) and volunteers into the healthcare system to care for complex patients in hard-to-reach areas. Includes a case study from rural Montana about collaborating with volunteers to help socially isolated patients access community resources and social services.
Date: 04/2017
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Community Health Workers Get Trained to Reduce Oral Health Disparities
Highlights programs serving the Navajo Nation, Texas colonias, and Appalachian Maryland that use community health workers to provide oral health education and improve access dental care.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Community Health Workers: Roles and Opportunities in Health Care Delivery System Reform
Identifies and discusses health services research on the utilization and integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) into healthcare service delivery. Includes an analysis regarding the various CHW models, employment data, training and credentialing, and challenges associated with the development of this occupation.
Author(s): John E. Snyder
Date: 01/2016
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Addressing Chronic Disease Through Community Health Workers: A Policy and Systems-Level Approach
Provides guidelines for the integration of community health workers (CHWs) into community based chronic disease prevention programs. Includes examples from a variety of CHW programs, some of which serve rural communities.
Date: 04/2015
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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A Cost Analysis of a Community Health Worker Program in Rural Vermont
Examines the cost and effectiveness of a hospital affiliated community health program staffed by 3 community health workers in rural Vermont. Cost data was compiled from 2 categories that included the personnel involved and operational costs from 2010 to 2011.
Author(s): Alberta M. Mirambeau, Guijing Wang, Laural Ruggles, Diane O. Dunet
Citation: Journal of Community Health, 38(6), 1050–1057
Date: 12/2013
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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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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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