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Community Health Workers in Rural Settings – Resources

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

Finding Innovation and Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Rural Health Organizations Are Adapting Their Program Strategies
Summarizes a series of virtual peer learning sessions in response to COVID-19 for current Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program, Rural Health Network Development, Small Healthcare Provider Quality Improvement, and Delta States Rural Development Network program grantees. Provides an overview of common themes that emerged from the sessions. Discusses the challenges and innovations made to implement rural health and public programs across six areas: community health workers, data collection and evaluation, virtual trainings, peer support services and recovery supports, telehealth utilization, and schools.
Additional links: Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Adjusting Approaches to Data Collection and Utilization, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Peer Support and Recovery Services in a Virtual Environment, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Strategies for Supporting Community by Maintaining Work With Schools, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Taking Community Health Worker Practice Virtual, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Using Telehealth in New and Improved Ways to Meet Emerging Needs
Author(s): Tanisa Adimu, John Butts, Coleman Tanner, et al.
Date: 05/2020
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Health Policy Center
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Strengthening Community-Clinical Linkages to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rural NC: Feasibility Phase of the CHANGE Study
Highlights a study evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of a cardiovascular disease prevention program using community health worker (CHW) interventions. Analyzes the CHANGE program in rural North Carolina and discusses the program's design, implementation, and outcomes.
Author(s): Carmen D. Samuel-Hodge, Ziya Gizlice, Sallie D. Allgood, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 20, 264
Date: 02/2020
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Recognizing and Sustaining the Value of Community Health Workers and Promotores
Discusses the ways in which community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) contribute to the healthcare system, with a focus on California. Gives examples of the ways in which CHW/Ps in rural areas can alleviate workforce shortages, strengthen patient engagement with the healthcare system, and act as liaisons to social structures, including churches and Native American tribal organizations.
Author(s): Jim Lloyd, Kathy Moses, Rachel Davis
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Making Community Health Workers (CHWs) Fundamental: New Research Strengthens the Case for State Policymakers to Include CHWs in Care Delivery Teams
Summarizes key findings from previous Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded studies in 9 states on Community Health Workers (CHWs) interventions and their effect on diverse ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, including rural. Offers evidence-based recommendations to help state policymakers integrate CHWs into healthcare delivery teams to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of healthcare for individuals and populations.
Author(s): Denisse Sanchez, Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, Eliot Fishman
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
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Advancing Health Equity Through Community Health Workers and Peer Providers: Mounting Evidence and Policy Recommendations
Reviews the results from 9 studies funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute supporting the inclusion of community health workers (CHWs) and peer providers (PPs) as effective participants in addressing health and healthcare inequities, particularly for diverse communities. Each study presented focuses on a distinct function of utilizing CHWs and/or PPS such as mentoring, managing chronic conditions, and navigator support for serious mental illness and depression. Discusses why payers and providers should include CHWs and PPS in a variety of capacities to improve outcomes, add value to care, and control costs.
Date: 11/2019
Sponsoring organization: Families USA
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Cost-effectiveness of a Statewide Public Health Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Highlights a study on the cost effectiveness of a community health worker (CHW)-based public health intervention to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in rural areas. Highlights an intervention that uses software to calculate risk scores and assist CHWs in making referrals and give support.
Author(s): Lauren Smith, Adam Atherly, Jon Campbell, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 19, 1234
Date: 09/2019
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Promising Practice: Educational Partnership Reaches Rural California Communities
Details a promising practice that works to expand health literacy among rural Latinos in California through a partnership between the California State Office of Rural Health and the California Department of Public Health's Office of Binational Border Health. Details the way the program is reaching rural Latinos through community health worker/promotores training.
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Physical Activity Change after a Promotora-Led Intervention in Low-Income Mexican American Women Residing in South Texas
Examines the physical activity preferences and changes after a community health worker (CHW) led intervention to decrease sedentary time in 620 Mexican American women from mostly rural colonias settlements in Hidalgo County, South Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors Physical Activity (CHAMPS) instrument was used to predict an increase in moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Author(s): Jennifer J. Salinas, Deborah Parra-Medina
Citation: BMC Public Health. 2019,(19), 782.
Date: 06/2019
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Protocol for Links (Linking Individual Needs to Community and Clinical Services): A Prospective Matched Observational Study of a Community Health Worker Community Clinical Linkage Intervention on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Describes Linking Individual Needs to Community and Clinical Services (LINKS), a 3-year observational tool developed to examine the impact of CHW-led interventions using electronic health records and other applications to reduce chronic disease risk and promote well-being among Latinos residing in the U.S. Mexico border region of Arizona.
Author(s): Abby M. Lohr, Maia Ingram, Scott C. Carvajal, Kevin Doubleday, Benjamin Aceves, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health,19, 399
Date: 04/2019
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Una Mano Amiga: Pilot Test of a Patient Navigator Program for Southwest New Mexico
Reports on a pilot study of utilizing bilingual promotoras as patient navigators to help cancer patients and their families in 3 rural counties of southwest New Mexico navigate the healthcare system from cancer diagnosis to treatment.
Author(s): Hugo Vilchis, Lynn E. Onstad, Rachel Benavidez, et al.
Citation: Journal of Cancer Education, 34(1), 173-179
Date: 02/2019
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