. Introduction to Key Considerations
All project partners in the Community Health Worker National Education Collaborative (CHW NEC) are at various stages in the implementation and evaluation of their CHW curriculum for their respective institutions of higher education. The role of the Advisory Council is to help advise project partners in these various stages, so that their CHW college-supported educational programs are truly responsive and representative of the past, present, and future of CHWs as well as community and employer needs.
The CHW-NEC recognizes that both paid and volunteer CHWs work throughout the US promoting health and access to care in their communities. Educational programs should strive to serve these existing CHWs and new community members who wish to serve as CHWs
First and foremost, from the viewpoint of the Advisory Council, the integration of CHWs at all levels in program planning, implementation, and evaluation will provide the strongest foundation for creating a truly responsive educational program that builds on the CHWs’ knowledge of the communities where they live and work. Every opportunity in program development and implementation must be taken to ensure the voice of CHWs is not lost.
Overall, the Advisory Council recommends integrating the most promising practice approaches identified by the CHW NEC in order to develop a balanced program responsive to workforce need. The CHW-NEC has identified seven Promising Practice arenas organized around key steps in the development of a CHW program (A-G below). The Advisory Council has identified ten key considerations that fall under these seven areas. The combined list is now presented.
The Key Considerations reported here reflect the views of the CHW-NEC Advisory Council during the life of the CHW-NEC project from 2004-2007. They are intended to provide guidance to individual institutions seeking to create CHW-responsive educational programming. When they were developed they were the Council’s best thinking regarding identified Promising Practices. While these Key Considerations remain highly relevant today it should also be noted that this document is intended to be a “living” document. As such it should be periodically reviewed and revised by CHWs and others working to support them in ensuring that CHW education and capacity building efforts are optimally geared to meet the needs of CHWs in the field.
Promising Practice Areas and Key Considerations1 As an emerging force in Public Health, a clear definition of the contemporary roles and competencies of CHWs is still evolving. The CHW-NEC looks forward to leadership from CHWs in the field currently working to develop a formal definition and will share such a definition with all project partners as it is made public.
view entire key considerations documentProject Documentation
- project timeline
- program logic model
- letter to partners
- sample work plan
The documents listed here are all in pdf format. If you don't have a pdf viewer installed on your machine you can download one for free at Adobe.
Multimedia
The CHW-NEC Project TA/training DVDs with accompanying support materials (handouts, learning activities, and power point presentations) are offered to institutions with a view for a “National Community of Practice” for CHW educational program development, refinement, and strengthening. They feature technical assistance (TA) trainings that were conducted regionally across the United States as a part of the CHW-NEC National Community of Practice Project (covering the period of March 2005 through September of 2007).
Some selective DVD segments may also be a useful resource for instruction and learning activities with CHW students, but, for the most part, these TA/training DVDs were primarily developed for use by faculty and program administrators engaged in developing college-responsive educational programs.
The DVDs are primarily organized around the following college-responsive program development issues:
- Workforce Assessment and Market Development
- Institutional Climate and Program Development
- Curriculum Design
- Instructional Approaches
- Student Recruitment and Retention
- Evaluation and Sustainability
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Requests for hard copies of these DVD and accompanying hard copy of the instructional materials may be made by contacting the CHW-NEC Project at The University of Arizona, 1834 Mabel St., Tucson Arizona 85721; phone:(520) 626-4034; fax:(520) 626-4037. These materials are offered for instructional/educational uses in the “Public Domain” with the proviso that acknowledgement of their authorship must be included. There is a cost involved for shipping and handling.