Enhancing the Education of Community Health Workers on Health Literacy and Cultural Humility in Times of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Background

Community Health Workers (CHW) play a critical role in promoting the health of their communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to educate CHW on health literacy and cultural humility became pivotal.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was twofold: First, to evaluate the impact of training CHW on health literacy and cultural humility and second, to explore the views of CHW regarding their experience.

Methods

A multi-method approach that included a pre- and post-evaluation questionnaire and several open-ended questions was utilized to gather data. Seventy-three CHW participated in the training and a small group participated in a follow-up consultation session.

Results

Confidence in defining health literacy and Social Determinants of Health and identifying health literacy and cultural humility practices improved after the training. CHW also identified action steps they plan to implement in their daily work, as well as some challenges in implementing strategies.

Discussion

The authors make a call to providing CHW with ongoing training and support to enhance their capacity to impact their communities.

Translation to Health Education Practice

This article emphasizes several sub-competencies of the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing Inc. (NCHEC), such as creating an environment conducive to learning and developing culturally responsive content.

Acknowledgments

This project was possible through funding from the Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the City of Rockford, Rockford Ready Initiative. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the Office of Minority Health of the HHS, or the U.S. Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Human subjects statement

This project was reviewed and exempted by the IRB at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Transparency statement

The raw data and materials used in this project are not available but may be available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health/Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funded by the OASH/OMH/HHS. Grant #: [1 CPIMP211266-01-00]. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the OASH/OMH/HHS.