Implementation of a Bilingual Research and Evaluation Workshop for Community Health Workers, Promotores de Salud, and Community Leaders in Washington State

Abstract

Community health workers, promotores de salud (CHW/Ps), and other community leaders play a crucial role in promoting health and addressing health inequities. Through their roles as trusted community members, they deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate health and social support. One role of CHW/Ps is evaluation and research; however, obtaining training in this area poses barriers for CHW/Ps. This paper describes a bilingual research and evaluation capacity-building workshop developed for CHW/Ps and Community Leaders in Washington State through an academic–community–practice partnership. We describe the workshop’s theoretical grounding in anti-racism and participatory approaches, the CBPR-informed partnership and development process, the workshop’s content, and its impact. The workshop, held at the 2023 Washington State Public-Health Association (WSPHA) Annual Meeting, drew nearly 100 attendees. We conducted pre-/post-workshop surveys (N = 64) and found that a greater proportion of attendees stated that they understood how to collect data in their community in the post-workshop survey compared to the pre-workshop survey (pre: 72.4%, post: 92.2%, p = 0.004). In general, there appeared to be a potential positive impact on attendees’ understanding of research, evaluation, and data. Such trainings have the opportunity to expose CHW/Ps and other community leaders to key research and evaluation skills, particularly when partnership, participation, and equity and centered.