2017 Community Health Worker Evaluation Retreat

The University of South Alabama’s Coastal Resource and Resiliency Center (CRRC) hosted a Community Health Worker (CHW)/Supervisor Evaluation Retreat on August 20-22, 2017 at the Mobile Marriott hotel in Mobile, Alabama. The primary purpose of the retreat was to gather data on CHWs' training and post training experiences, as well as their involvement in community resilience-building activities and their perspectives on the potential for CHWs to serve as members of emergency preparedness and disaster response teams. The CRRC developed multiple evaluation instruments for the retreat including, CHW and supervisor surveys, focus groups, and guided discussions. The CHW survey instrument primarily focused on CHWs' roles and responsibilities, effectiveness of their training in fulfilling the roles of CHW, and CHWs' obstacles and contributions to building community resilience. The CHW/Supervisor survey instrument gathered data on the utility and value of the CHW within their organization and recommendations for additional training topics for CHWs. The focus groups were designed to identify communities served, assess levels of community resilience, list critical healthcare needs, provide examples of resilience-building activities, explore other approaches to building resilience and the potential involvement of CHWs, and prioritize next steps for building community disaster resilience. The guided discussions were organized to collect additional feedback from CHWs and supervisors regarding training and field experiences, and the utility of CHWs increasing healthcare capacity and enhancing community resilience.