Empowering Promotores de Salud to engage in Community-Based Participatory Research

Latino immigrants are less likely to be involved in addressing health-related issues affecting their own community. Community health workers have played a significant role in addressing the health of underserved communities in several countries.

The objective of this article is to describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a community-based training program that empowers promotores to identify the health needs of recent Latino immigrants. Promotores were able to develop interventions based on the needs of recent Latino immigrants.

Latino community members participated in a 30-hour training program. Training was provided in 15 two-hour sessions over 3 months. Training included field work accompanied by skills development in leadership, organization, interpersonal communication, and survey implementation. Upon completion of the training, promotores conducted household surveys designed to identify community health needs. The evaluation employed quantitative measures to track promotores' canvassing activities and assessment of health behaviors.

Out of the 22 promotores enrolled in the training program, 15 (68.18%) completed the training program. Within 3 months, promotores administered 105 household surveys and identified poor access to health care, lack of insurance (78.6%), low daily consumption of fruits (73%) and vegetables (37.5%) and frequent exposure to tobacco smoke (31.7%).

Our study demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting and engaging promotores to identify health priorities within the Latino community. This initial step will inform the development of future community-based interventions.