“If They Don’t Ask About Condoms, I Just Tell Them”: A Descriptive Case Study of Latino Lay Health Advisers’ Helping Activities

Abstract

Health care practitioners have increasingly turned to lay health advisers (LHAs) to deliver health promotion and disease prevention supportive activities to underserved populations. Yet, published evaluations of the LHA programs or the manner in which LHAs deliver information are rare. An important aspect of program evaluation includes understanding the role of the LHA in the community as described by the LHAs in the field. The purpose of this article is to report the results of a component of a larger evaluation of an LHA program for preventing HIV/AIDS among recently immigrated Mexicans in North Carolina. Specifically, the authors use a descriptive case study design to report on the perceptions of the LHAs related to program objectives. The findings suggest that the LHAs are meeting the program objectives and are confident in their role as LHAs.

East Meets West: A Brief Report of a Culturally Sensitive Breast Health Education Program for Chinese-Australian Women

“…Using more informal labels which do not denote responsibility and commitment, as one BHA suggested, may reduce this barrier. Interestingly, other programs have reported that lay health advocates felt a sense of expertise [16], so providing formal recognition of training such as a program completion certificate may help build confidence [24].…”

“…Programs using lay health advocates, also known lay health workers, peer educators or natural helpers [14], have been employed for a variety of health education interventions around the world [15]. Such interventions have the potential to empower lay health advocates and their community [16], as indicated by findings of increases in advisor knowledge and increased community use of preventive health services [17]. To our knowledge, this is the first culturally specific breast health and screening promotion program for Chinese-Australian women in Australia.…”

Supporting Latino Communities’ Natural Helpers: A Case Study of Promotoras in a Research Capacity Building Course

“…In fact, Rhodes and colleagues carried out a systematic review of published studies on CHWs among Latino communities and described one of the six primary roles of CHWs as ''co-researchers in participatory research models'' [11], noting specific studies where CHWs served as integral members of the research team [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. On the other hand, Rosenthal and colleagues identify data collection as a core role of CHWs, but did not identify research skills as a core competency of CHWs [21].…”

Benefits arising from lay involvement in community-based public health initiatives: The experience from community nutrition

“…The benefits associated with lay involvement includes diverse range of claims, from assumptions about increased coverage and efficiency of services (18) increased efficacy in changing health related behaviours (19)(20)(21) particularly amongst the so-called 'hard-to reach' groups (21), individual or community empowerment (22,23) and advocacy on behalf of socially disadvantaged or ethnic minority communities (24). Evidently, social affinity and unique ability of lay people, particularly those indigenous to the communities served, to disseminate culturally specific messages and help in identifying and overcoming barriers to behaviour change, is key to their success (25,26,27 In essence public health claims to be concerned with the health and wellbeing of populations.…”