CHWs

CHWs and Covid-19 — Addressing Social Determinants of Health in Times of Crisis and Beyond

N Engl J Med. 2020 Sep 23. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2022641. [Full Commentary]

Peretz PJ, Islam N, Matiz LA

New York City was the one of the first COVID-19 hot spots in the United States and necessitated a public health response that included community health workers. This piece in the New English Journal of Medicine shares experiences from New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, which are among the healthcare organizations that utilized CHWs into their COVID-19 response. In collaboration with community-based organizations, CHW teams proactively contacted socially isolated patients, connecting them with sources of critically important care and support. This experience has shown that, during times of crisis, CHWs may be the lone connection between some patients and an ever-changing — and increasingly digital — health care system.

Mobile-Enhanced Peer Support for African Americans with T2D

J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Jul 22. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06011-w. [Pubmed Abstract]

Caroline Presley, April Agne, Tanya Shelton, Robert Oster, Andrea Cherrington

Background
Peer support has been shown to improve diabetes self-management and control, but no standard exists to link peer support interventions to clinical care.

Objective
To compare a community-based diabetes self-management education (DSME) plus mobile health (mHealth)-enhanced peer support intervention to community-based diabetes self-management education (DSME) alone for African American adults with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes.

Design
A randomized controlled trial.

Participants
African American adults, age > 19 years, receiving care within a safety-net healthcare system in Jefferson County, Alabama, with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and a hemoglobin A1c (A1C) ≥ 7.5%.

Interventions
Participants in the intervention group received community-based diabetes self-management education (DSME)…

Lazos Hispanos: Promising Strategies and Lessons Learned in the Development of a Multisystem, Community-Based Promotoras Program

J Prim Prev. 2020;41(3):229-243. doi:10.1007/s10935-020-00587-z. [Pubmed Abstract]

Matthew RA, Orpinas P, Calva A, Bermudez JM, Darbisi C

Abstract
U.S. Latinos face multiple inter-related barriers to access health and social services. Researchers and practitioners have called upon community-based participatory research (CBPR) to address such challenges and health disparities, with the community health worker-or promotoras-model evidencing positive outcomes. What is less clear, however, are the promising strategies to support the development of a multisystem, community-based promotoras program. In response, the current study applied a CBPR conceptual model as an organizing framework to develop a promotora program. Lazos Hispanos (Hispanic Links) was developed to enhance the health and well-being of Latinx residing in low-income communities in the Southeastern United States. This study highlights 16 lessons learned, anchored in the first two dimensions of the CBPR conceptual…