Retention and Productivity of Community Health Leaders
PI - C. Kevin Malotte
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach and University of Southern California are collaborating with two programs: the GEMS Project in the San Gabriel Valley; and the Partnership for the Public's Health (PPH) project in Long Beach. Both of these projects involve community residents who have volunteered to be "health leaders" in an effort to improve community health. These "health leaders" have been trained to provide health education, linkages to community health programs and/or health insurance programs, and advocacy. A community-based, participatory research study will be conducted to: 1) evaluate the impact of monetary vs. non-monetary incentives on retention, participation, productivity, and satisfaction with a group of community volunteer health leaders participating in the PPH project; 2) study the "natural history" of health leader retention, participation, and satisfaction among GEM health leaders compared to the PPH health leaders with whom incentives will be manipulated; 3) develop, implement, and evaluate a community-wide participatory intervention designed to increase knowledge about health-related activities among traditionally hard-to-reach or underserved residents through the facilitation of home and/or community-based educational sessions presented by the health leaders; 4) evaluate the level of community awareness about the availability of local resources, health leader educational sessions, and program recognition generated through outreach and distribution of role-model story publications through the PPH project over time in the target Long Beach communities and in comparison to the GEM project. To date, pretest data have been collected from approximately 75 health leaders. The first cohort of health leaders in Long Beach have also received additional training on two topics they chose, "Parents Talking to Their Children About Sex" and "Mental Health" and are providing workshops and one-on-one education to their friends, neighbors, and other community members. The second cohort of health leaders is currently receiving additional training on "Nutrition and Exercise" and "Parents Talking to Their Children About Sex." Pre-intervention community awareness surveys have also been conducted in Long Beach and the San Gabriel Valley. The first six-month follow-up health leader surveys and community awareness surveys are being conducted.
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Page last modified: September 28, 2006
Content source: Office of the Chief Science Officer (OCSO)