Engaging outreach workers in the development of a farmworker health research agenda

Abstract

Farmworker health outreach workers have not traditionally been involved in the prioritization and design of research studies. This report from the field shares the results of a survey administered to outreach workers providing health services to farmworkers in North Carolina. Priority areas of research and best practices for engaged research are presented from the perspective of the outreach worker community. The purposeful involvement of outreach workers can make farmworker health research more meaningful and solution-oriented.

Creating information resources and trainings for farmworker-serving community health workers

“…Whereas CHWs serve an important role in providing health care access and enabling services (e.g., health education, interpretation, and case management) for farmworkers, CHWs have received limited attention in the literature [ 8 ]. Furthermore, our previous research involving farmworker-serving CHWs has demonstrated they have limited access to farmworker health research findings and other important health information resources [ 9 ]. Our current project strives to address this gap through training that increases CHWs' health information literacy skills and their knowledge of NLM resources.…”

Advancing the Health of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in the United States: Identifying Gaps in the Existing Literature, 2021

“…Focus groups in North Carolina with farmworker CHWs found CHWs often requested new research on topics where there was already robust evidence (LePrevost et al, 2018). Any public health practitioner outside of a university likely faces substantial barriers to keeping up to date with the scientific literature, and researchers have a poor record overall of communicating findings beyond scientific publications (Vidrine et al, 2010).…”