Women’s Health Leadership Training to Enhance Community Health Workers as Change Agents
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The Impact of Womens Health ...
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Affiliation
University of ArizonaMariposa Community Health Center
U.S. Office of Women's Health
Issue Date
2016-05
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SAGE PUBLICATIONS INCCitation
Ingram M, Chang J, Kunz S, Piper S, Strawder K. Evaluating Women’s Health Leadership Training in Enhancing Community Health Workers as Change Agents. Health Promotion Practice. 2016;17(3):391-399.Journal
Health Promotion PracticeRights
© 2016 Society for Public Health Education.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Objectives. A community health worker (CHW) is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. While natural leadership may incline individuals to the CHW profession, they do not always have skills to address broad social issues. We describe evaluation of the Women’s Health Leadership Institute (WHLI), a 3-year training initiative to increase the capacity of CHWs as change agents. Methods. Pre-/postquestionnaires measured the confidence of 254 participants in mastering WHLI leadership competencies. In-depth interviews with CHW participants 6 to 9 months after the training documented application of WHLI competencies in the community. A national CHW survey measured the extent to which WHLI graduates used leadership skills that resulted in concrete changes to benefit community members. Multivariate logistic regressions controlling for covariates compared WHLI graduates’ leadership skills to the national sample. Results. Participants reported statistically significant pre-/post improvements in all competencies. nterviewees credited WHLI with increasing their capacity to listen to others, create partnerships, and initiate efforts to address community needs. Compared to a national CHW sample, WHLI participants were more likely to engage community members in attending public meetings and organizing events. These activities led to community members taking action on an issue and a concrete policy change. Conclusions. Leadership training can increase the ability of experienced CHWs to address underlying issues related to community health across different types of organizational affiliations and job responsibilities.Note
Sage policy: Once the article has been accepted for publication, you may post the accepted version (version 2) of the article on your own personal website, your department’s website or the repository of your institution without any restrictions.Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
DHHS Office Of Women's HealthAdditional Links
http://hpp.sagepub.com/content/17/3/391.full.pdf+htmlae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/1524839916637047