title: The Impact of Integrating Community Advocacy Into Community Health Worker Roles on Health-Focused Organizations and Community Health Workers in Southern Arizona.
abstract: Organizational environments may encourage community health workers (CHWs) to engage community members in improving their communities. We conducted open-ended interviews and focus groups to explore how participation in the Acción intervention, which trained CHWs in community advocacy, affected organizational capacity to support their CHWs. Supervisors described improved organizational recognition and trust of CHWs. Organizational leaders reported organizational benefits and increased appreciation of CHW leadership. Both expressed increased interest in future advocacy trainings. Limiting factors included organizational mission, CHW position descriptions, and funding. Findings indicate that, with training and funding, CHW community advocacy can be integrated into organizations with congruent missions.
authors.affiliation: Arizona Prevention Research Center, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson (Drs Reinschmidt, Schachter, Sabo, and Carvajal and Ms Ingram); and El Rio Community Health Center, Tucson, Arizona (Ms Verdugo).
authors.forename: Kerstin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Reinschmidt
authors.forename: Maia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schachter
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sabo
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Verdugo
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carvajal
mesh_terms: D001130:Arizona; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D024382:Professional Role; D064890:Social Determinants of Health