School of Social Work, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92120, USA.
J Community Health. 2010 Apr;35(2):124-34. doi: 10.1007/s10900-009-9207-z.
Community Health Advisors (CHAs) are indigenous lay health advisors who, with training, can create health awareness, disseminate health information and support behavior change in their communities. Little data are available that describe the characteristics, recruitment, training, retention, and performance of CHAs. The present study described the characteristics, recruitment process, training outcomes, retention activities, and performance of two sets of CHAs who delivered tobacco-related interventions in the local Latino community. The Tobacco Control in Latino Communities (TCLC) Center trained 35 CHAs to conduct either a smoking cessation program for Spanish-speaking adult smokers or a behavioral problem-solving intervention to reduce environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure among low-income Latino children. Theoretical psychosocial constructs related to behavior change, general self-esteem, general self-efficacy, and demographics were collected from CHAs before and after training. Additional measures captured the level of professionalism exercised and effort undertaken by the CHAs, as well actual outcomes of their efforts. Of the 33 women and 2 men CHAs recruited, 86% were originally from Mexico, most had a high school education, most were married, and the average monthly household income was $1,100-$1,400. Mean participant age was 42 years, and level of acculturation was relatively low. There were changes in the desired direction pre-to-post training for both ETS and smoking cessation program CHAs for most of the psychosocial constructs. Expert ratings of CHA performance were good, and recipients of the CHAs' efforts showed positive changes in behavior. This information may aid in planning for recruitment and evaluation of CHAs for future tobacco control programs.
社区卫生顾问（CHAs）是土著兼职健康顾问，经过培训，他们可以在社区中提高健康意识、传播健康信息并支持行为改变。目前，关于 CHA 的特征、招募、培训、保留和绩效的数据很少。本研究描述了两组在当地拉丁裔社区提供与烟草相关干预措施的 CHA 的特征、招募过程、培训结果、保留活动和绩效。烟草控制拉丁裔社区（TCLC）中心培训了 35 名 CHA，让他们要么为西班牙语成年吸烟者提供戒烟计划，要么提供行为问题解决干预措施，以减少低收入拉丁裔儿童接触环境烟草烟雾（ETS）。在培训前后，从 CHA 收集了与行为改变、一般自尊、一般自我效能和人口统计学相关的理论心理社会结构的信息。其他措施还捕捉了 CHA 所表现出的专业水平和努力程度，以及他们努力的实际结果。在招募的 33 名女性和 2 名男性 CHA 中，86%最初来自墨西哥，大多数人有高中教育，大多数人已婚，平均月家庭收入为 1100-1400 美元。平均参与者年龄为 42 岁，文化融合程度相对较低。对于大多数心理社会结构，ETS 和戒烟计划 CHA 的培训前后都朝着期望的方向发生了变化。CHAs 的表现得到了专家的好评，并且接受 CHAs 努力的人在行为上也显示出了积极的变化。这些信息可能有助于为未来的烟草控制计划规划 CHA 的招募和评估。
