Research interests, experience, and training of Community Health Workers: a mixed Method Approach.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Community-Based Research

Background:

• The Affordable Care Act promotes integrating community health care workers (CHWs) to enhance healthcare quality.
• Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) are increasingly recognized for their potential to reduce health disparities.
• Limited understanding exists regarding CHWs' research training, knowledge, experience, and interest in health research (HR), CBPR, and PCOR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine differences in training, knowledge, experience, and interest levels among CHWs concerning HR, CBPR, and PCOR.
• To assess the impact of CHW certification on their research-related knowledge and experience.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 202 community health care workers (CHWs).
• Quantitative analysis to compare knowledge levels regarding health research (HR), community-based participatory research (CBPR), and patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR).
• Qualitative analysis to identify research areas of interest among participating CHWs.

Main Results:

• Certified CHWs exhibited significantly higher knowledge across all research types (HR, CBPR, PCOR) compared to non-certified CHWs.
• Participants demonstrated higher knowledge of HR compared to CBPR, but not significantly different from PCOR.
• Identified key research interests including chronic illness, health promotion, healthcare services, mental health, and research methodology.

Conclusions:

• CHWs possess a broad interest in various health research domains.
• Certified CHWs possess greater research knowledge, suggesting the value of certification.
• There is a need for research training programs specifically designed for CHWs, aligning with their roles and interests to effectively reduce health disparities.