Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun;78(6 Suppl 1):6-14.

Community Health Workers in Hawai'i: A Scoping Review and Framework Analysis of Existing Evidence

David A Stupplebeen  1 , Alexis T Barnett-Sherrill  2 , Tetine L Sentell  1
Affiliations

Community Health Workers in Hawai'i: A Scoping Review and Framework Analysis of Existing Evidence

David A Stupplebeen et al. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction: Community health workers (CHWs) play a vital role in health across Hawai'i, but the scope of this work is not comprehensively collated. This scoping review describes the existing evidence of the roles and responsibilities of CHWs in Hawai'i. Methods: Between May and October 2018, researchers gathered documents (eg, reports, journal articles) relevant to Hawai'i CHWs from health organizations, government entities, colleges/universities, and CHWs. Documents were reviewed for overall focus and content, then analyzed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 10 Essential Public Health Services as well as the Community Health Worker Core Consensus Project roles to identify workplace roles and gaps. Results: Of 92 documents received, 68 were included for review. The oldest document dated to 1995. Document types included curricula outlines, unpublished reports, and peer-reviewed articles. Documents discussed trainings, certification programs, CHWs' roles in interventions, and community-, clinical-, and/or patient-level outcomes. Cultural concordance parity between CHWs and patients, cost savings, and barriers to CHW work were noted. Most roles named by the Community Health Worker Core Consensus Project were mentioned in documents, but few were related to the roles of "community/policy advocacy" and "participation in research and evaluation." Workplace roles, as determined using the 10 Essential Public Health Services, focused more on "assuring workforce competency" and "evaluation," and less on "policy development," and "enforcing laws." Discussion: CHWs are an important part of Hawaii's health system and engage in many public health functions. Although CHW roles in Hawai'i mirrored those identified by the CHW Core Consensus Project and 10 Essential Public Health Services frameworks, there is a noticeable gap in Hawai'i CHW professional participation in research, evaluation, and community advocacy.

Keywords: CHW; Community health workers; Hawai‘i; interventions; outreach; roles; training.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Article Exclusion Process Diagram for Scoping Review of CHW Work in Hawai‘i
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Lohr AM, Ingram M, Nuñez AV, Reinschmidt KM, Carvajal SC. Community-clinical linkages with community health workers in the United States: a scoping review. Health Promot Prac. 2018;19(3):349–360. - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Public Health Association, author. Support for community health workers to increase health access and to reduce health inequities. 2009. Nov 10, https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statemen....
    1. Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance, author. Definition. 2018. http://mnchwalliance.org/who-are-chws/definition/
    1. World Health Organization, author. Global health workforce alliance - Community health workers. 2016. https://who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/themes/community/en/
    1. Rosenthal E, Rush C, Allen C. Understanding scope and competencies: a contemporary look at the United States community health worker field. Houston, TX: Project on CHW Policy & Practice, University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health, Institute for Health Policy; 2016. pp. 1–43. https://sph.uth.edu/dotAsset/28044e61-fb10-41a2-bf3b-07efa4fe56ae.pdf. Published July 2016.

Publication types

MeSH terms