AHL 347 - Community Health Worker Theory

10 Continuing Education Units (CEU). This course is not for Credit(s).

This continuing education course is designed to provide students instruction in community health worker core competency areas as defined by the state of Maryland. Topics to be covered include: advocacy and community capacity building, effective communication skills, cultural competence and anti-oppressive practice, ethics and confidentiality, local resources and system navigation, care coordination support skills, teaching skills to promote healthy behavior change, outreach methods and strategies, and public health concepts and health literacy.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. identify the role of community health workers (CHW);
2. recognize effective communication techniques commonly used by CHW;
3. identify common sources of potential conflict CHW may encounter and define different conflict resolution strategies;
4. recognize how stress can impact both CHW and clients and explain methods for positive management;
5. define cultural competence and recognize its importance in CHW;
6. recognize the difference between laws and ethics and define a process for ethical decision making in the CHW role;
7. define the role of contact tracer and identify how the CHW core competencies can be used to increase a contact tracer’s effectiveness;
8. define client-centered counseling and a strengths-based approach;
9. articulate stages of change theory and demonstrate key techniques for motivational interviewing;
10. identify and demonstrate community outreach strategies;
11. explain the goals of the public health field and the models applied in public health;
12. define health inequities and state the role CHW play in mitigating their impact;
13. define care coordination and identify the key role CHW play in providing this service;
14. explain the CHW role in community organizing and advocacy; and
15. discuss the role that incarceration, chronic disease, and trauma has on individual and community health.