This paper describes and evaluates a training program to prepare community health workers (CHWs) involved in community-academic initiatives. The training program, which was piloted by the New York University Prevention Research Center, demonstrates that a core competency-based framework coupled with community-academic initiative research skills sessions is effective in several respects; The training (1) provides skills that CHWs intend to use, (2) builds CHWs’ confidence, and (3) provides CHWs with a more contextualized view of client needs and CHW roles.
Ruiz, Y., Matos, S., Kapadia, S., Islam, N., Cusack, A, Kwong, S., & Trinh-Shevrin, C. (2012). Lessons learned from a community-academic initiative: The development of a core competency-based training for community-academic initiative community health workers. American Journal of Public Health, 102(12), 2372-2379. Full Text.