Addressing Training Gaps: A Competency-Based, Telehealth Training Initiative for Community Health Workers.

Background: To overcome vast variations in Community Health Worker (CHW) training, investigators for the CHW Core Consensus Project (CCCP) derived three types of CHW (Category 1, 2, 3) and established competencies for each category. However, studies are needed that implement these competencies in real-world settings.

Objective: Using the six competency domains of the CCCP as a theoretical backbone, we developed and evaluated a training for CHWs, individuals whose focus is on community outreach and advocacy.

Methods: We developed five telehealth-based, bilingual (Spanish/English) training sessions and implemented them among Latino(a) CHWs. We measured the number of CHWs who achieved ≥70% correct on a domain-based posttest, attendance, and qualitative feedback.

Results: All (18/18) CHWs achieved at least 70% on the posttest (mean: 93.7%; range 73.3-100%). Training attendance was 98.9%. Using a six-point scale, CHWs reported high levels of satisfaction overall (5.72 ± 0.57/6.0), with telehealth (5.72 ± 0.58/6.0), effectiveness of teaching strategies/methods (5.89 ± 0.32/6.0), achieving training objectives (5.96 ± 0.15/6.0), knowledge improvement (5.72 ± 0.57/6.0), and interest (5.78 ± 0.43/6.0).

Conclusion: We successfully developed and evaluated a bilingual training program for CHWs to address core competency gaps. High CHW attendance reinforces the value of telehealth modalities and their potential to increase the for CHW training. To overcome gaps in chronic disease training, investigations are needed to address additional CHW trainings.

Trial Registration: NCT04835493.