A pilot study of lay health worker outreach and colorectal cancer screening among Chinese Americans.

The research team recruited eight Chinese American (seven females, one male) lay health workers (LHWs). They received 12 h of training about colorectal cancer (CRC), its screening, and basic health education techniques. Each LHW were asked to recruit ten participants and conduct two educational sessions. Of the 81 participants recruited, 73 had not received colorectal cancer screening. Their mean age was 63.0 years, and 72.6% were women. Knowledge of colorectal cancer, its causes, and its screening increased significantly. Receipt of first colorectal cancer screening test increased from 0.0% at baseline to 55.7% for fecal occult blood tests, 7.1% for sigmoidoscopy, and 7.1% for colonoscopy. LHW outreach is feasible and may be effective in promoting CRC screening among Chinese Americans.

The outdoor air quality flag program in central California: a school-based educational intervention to potentially help reduce children's exposure to environmental asthma triggers.

This paper describes a novel school-based, visual environmental public health educational intervention intended to help reduce the exposure of children-and adults-to outdoor air pollution, including known environmental asthma triggers like ozone and particles. The overarching goal was to enhance the learning, recreational, and work environments of students and staff. The specific purpose of the Asthma-Friendly Outdoor (Ambient) Air Quality Flag Program was to establish an education and communication tool for Central California communities that would accomplish two things: (1) Establish permanent local policy change to existing operating procedures in school districts and schools to help reduce the exposure of students, teachers, staff, and nearby communities to outdoor environmental asthma triggers and (2) provide education on air quality and potential health effects of exposure to air pollutants. Data on the program from its initial years are presented. To date, the following important lessons have been learned: (1) Science-based, simple, visual, low-cost school-based educational interventions to help reduce human exposure to outdoor environmental asthma triggers (i.e., ozone, particles, and pollens) can work in socioeconomically and ethnically diverse urban and rural or agricultural communities, and (2) local health and environmental justice groups such as asthma coalitions can successfully lead school-based environmental interventions to help improve children's quality of life.

The Yes We Can Urban Asthma Partnership: a medical/social model for childhood asthma management.

Pediatric asthma programs have struggled to integrate children's medical and social needs. We developed and piloted an integrated team model for asthma care for low-income children through the Yes We Can Urban Asthma Partnership. Program evaluation demonstrated increases in prescribing controller medications (p <0.05), use of action plans (p<0.001), and the use of mattress covers (p<0.001); and decrease in asthma symptoms (p<0.01). Additional changes occurred within the local system of asthma care to support ongoing efforts to improve asthma management. We conclude that pediatric asthma programs can effectively target the social and medical needs of children in a sustainable manner.

CHWs get credit: a 10-year history of the first college-credit certificate for community health workers in the United States.

Community health workers have become increasingly important in the U.S. health care system, playing a significant role in basic health promotion and care coordination; however, their status and visibility have not kept pace with their wider use. A major impediment has been the absence of systematic preparation-the field needs standardized education in programs that emphasize the actual skills and knowledge used by community health workers, programs that attract and retain nontraditional students from underserved communities and that foster professional advancement. This article chronicles the 10-year history of the first college credit-bearing community health worker certificate program in the country to address this need. Systematic research resulted in a program centered on the core competencies universally practiced by community health workers regardless of their topical focus. The certificate program combines performance-based methods with popular education into an innovative pedagogical approach that teaches skills, while solidifying, contextualizing, and enhancing crucial experiential knowledge. Program outcomes validate the approach.

Illuminating the MPH health educator workforce: results and implications of an employer survey.

The public health workforce has been studied, but not health educators specifically. The development of a Master of Public Health (MPH) in community health education inspired research to illuminate the San Francisco MPH health educator labor market. A time-series survey of an employer panel was conducted between 1995 and 1999 regarding the number of MPH health educators on staff, hiring projections, and importance of selected competencies. In the San Francisco Bay Area, there were 4 MPH health educators per 100,000 persons in 1999. The majority worked in local health departments and community-based organizations. Although hiring was largely replacement in the late 1990s, employers anticipated an increase in hiring from 2000 to 2004. Employers reported that educational preparation was adequate, although preparation in specific competencies, such as bilingual competence, was lacking. These results suggest a favorable labor market for MPH health educators in the San Francisco Bay Area.