Evaluation of a Remote Youth Health Advocate Training Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Since 2016, Changing Health through Advocacy & eMPloyment In Our NeighborhoodS (CHAMPIONS) has utilized in-person programming to engage high school students from underserved Chicago communities in health advocacy education and exposure to health professional careers. OBJECTIVE: Describe outcomes after CHAMPIONS' shift from in-person to remote programming during the corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: The Summer 2020 remote program consisted of four main activities: 1) didactic public health curriculum, 2) phone calls to COVID-19 patients, 3) COVID-19 community health projects, and 4) health professional speaker series. Program evaluation consisted of pre-/post-program surveys and focus groups. RESULTS: Participants were very satisfied with CHAMPIONS and reported increased healthy habits, self-efficacy, and knowledge. "First-hand experiences" increased equivalently or more for the remote compared to in-person cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: The remote CHAMPIONS program maximized positive effects for participants. Strengths and lessons learned may be used in future enrichment programs to improve accessibility and exposure for underserved students.

Engaging Youth Through Digital Badges to Promote Health in Underserved Communities.

The CHAMPIONS NETWork program trains Chicago high school students as health advocates while preparing them to become future health professionals. We added digital badging to the curriculum in its third year of programming (2018). This article describes methods and student feedback about digital badging, allowing others to implement similar technology-driven opportunities to engage youth and promote healthy living. Program staff created seven online experiences (XPs) on health advocacy that made up a playlist. Students adopted three adults as clients and completed four XPs themselves and three with clients. Completion of all XPs resulted in a digital badge-an electronic portfolio of health advocacy experiences to be shared with employers and colleges. Following the 2019 cohort's completion of the digital badge, we conducted two focus groups with students about their feedback on the digital badge. Results showed that students most liked the healthy eating and cardiopulmonary resuscitation XPs. They had more positive reactions to the experience than negative, and especially appreciated aspects of active learning, as well as the badge's long-term benefits. This technology can potentially help any student with access to an electronic device become a health advocate, and could become a new tool for career development while improving population health.

Empowering Chicago's Youths as the Next Generation of Health Advocates.

The CHAMPIONS NETWork summer program trains high school students to become health advocates in underserved Chicago, Illinois, communities. It provides a more innovative approach to traditional pipeline programs through the added responsibility of active health promotion. To determine whether student empowerment changed during the program, participants completed pre- and postassessments on health knowledge and self-efficacy. We found significant increases in student empowerment after the program compared with before, especially regarding the students' abilities and experiences.

The CHAMPIONS NETWork: Training Chicago High School Students as Health Advocates to Improve Health Equity.

In Chicago, major disparities exist across ethnic groups, income levels, and education levels for common chronic conditions and access to care. Concurrently, many of Chicago's youth are unemployed, and the number of minorities pursuing health professions is low. In an effort to eliminate this health equity gap, the University of Illinois at Chicago convened a community-university-hospital partnership to implement the CHAMPIONS NETWork (Community Health And eMPowerment through Integration Of Neighborhood-specific Strategies using a Novel Education & Technology-leveraged Workforce). This innovative workforce training program is a "High School to Career Training Academy" to empower underserved youth to improve population health in their communities, expose them to careers in the health sciences, and provide resources for them to become community and school advocates for healthy lifestyles. This program differs from other traditional pipeline programs because it gives its students a paid experience, extends beyond the summer, and broadens the focus to population health with patient contact. The CHAMPIONS NETWork creates a new type of health workforce that is both sustainable and replicable throughout the United States.