Proceedings of a Workshop to Promote Community Health Worker Interventions in Nephrology

Latinx populations face a higher burden of kidney failure and associated negative outcomes compared with non-Latinx White populations, despite sharing a similar prevalence of CKD. Community health worker (CHW) interventions have been shown to improve outcomes for Latinx individuals, but they are largely underutilized in kidney disease. We convened a workshop of four ongoing kidney disease CHW programs to identify successes, challenges, potential solutions, and needed research to promote CHW programs for Latinx individuals with kidney disease. Key points from the workshop and recommendations for intervention and research are highlighted. Facilitators of program success included prioritizing trust-building with participants, enabling participants to determine what aspects of the intervention were needed, providing participants with tools to help themselves and others after the intervention, and taking a trauma-informed approach to relationships. Challenges included persistent systemic barriers despite successful care navigation and low recruitment and retention. Research is needed to capture the effect of CHW interventions on outcomes and to determine how to implement CHW interventions for people with kidney disease nationwide.