Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2018 Mar 1;40(1):199-209. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx033.
To develop an empirically-informed reporting taxonomy for Community Health Worker (CHW) services to address concerns about the transparency and consistency of descriptions of these interventions in the existing literature.
We undertook in-depth interviews (n = 43) with CHWs and service staff working in four case studies selected using maximum variation sampling. Interviewees were encouraged to talk about the service, how they had become involved with the service, the CHW role and relationship with clients.
Thematic analysis identified recurrent cross-case observations which we classed as 'who CHW are' and 'what CHW do'. CHW's personal characteristics comprised the sub-groups knowledge and skills, personal qualities, similarity to client and voluntary/paid status; role characteristics comprised time and continuity, settings, limited responsibility, core task and enacted philosophies.
We have developed a conceptual framework for reporting CHW interventions based on the existing literature and our own empirical work. Compared with existing work in the field, the taxonomy uses nomenclature that minimizes current overlap and confusion, and provides a more complete description of CHW characteristics.
为社区卫生工作者（CHW）服务制定一个基于经验的报告分类法，以解决现有文献中对这些干预措施描述的透明度和一致性的担忧。
我们对在使用最大变异抽样选择的四个案例研究中工作的 CHW 和服务人员进行了深入访谈（n=43）。鼓励受访者谈论服务、他们如何参与服务、CHW 的角色以及与客户的关系。
主题分析确定了反复出现的跨案例观察结果，我们将其归类为“CHW 是谁”和“CHW 做什么”。CHW 的个人特征包括知识和技能、个人素质、与客户的相似性以及自愿/付费状态；角色特征包括时间和连续性、设置、有限责任、核心任务和实施的理念。
我们根据现有文献和我们自己的实证工作，为报告 CHW 干预措施制定了一个概念框架。与该领域现有的工作相比，该分类法使用的命名法最大限度地减少了当前的重叠和混淆，并更全面地描述了 CHW 的特征。
