Objective: This evaluation examined the effectiveness and cultural compatibility of a community health worker (CHW) training programme on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Haiti. Design: Mixed-methods including pre- and post-course tests of WASH knowledge, focus group discussions and semi-structured observation. Setting: Haiti is among the world’s most underdeveloped nations for WASH infrastructure. In rural areas of the country, fewer than half of households have access to clean water and 22% have adequate sanitation facilities. The study evaluated a ‘train-the-trainer’ programme in rural southeast Haiti. Methods: Participants were 22 CHW supervisors responsible for training and monitoring the work of rural junior health agents (JHAs). The training programme was delivered by international trainers and consisted of 1 week of classroom training and 1 week of community-based experiential learning. Paired-samples t-tests were used to assess changes in knowledge, and robust qualitative methods were used to analyse focus group discussion and observation data. Results: Participants showed statistically significant improvement in WASH knowledge from pre- to post-test. In experiential supervisor-led training sessions, participants effectively conveyed course content to JHAs, and successful home visits demonstrated the potential for content to reach community members. The programme would benefit from providing educational materials to enhance dissemination. Participants expressed dissatisfaction with translations of course content and requested more frequent training, more emphasis on leadership development and specific content areas for future training. Conclusion: The CHW training programme enhanced trainees’ WASH knowledge and capacity to educate JHAs to disseminate the knowledge to local residents. The train-the-trainer model offers a cost-effective strategy for building local capacity for health education.

Background. The importance of parental beliefs and practices related to children's school readiness skills is widely documented, but few studies explicitly focus on immigrant families. Further, no known studies have examined immigrant parents' beliefs about what skills children need to be successful in kindergarten.Objectives. The overarching aim of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the school readiness beliefs of parents who are identified as immigrants in the United States. We examined the skills they prioritized as well as parents' reasoning about their prioritization.Methods. Sixty-three immigrant parents from three different countries of origin-China, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador-completed a Q-sort and subsequent interview about their school readiness beliefs as well as a measure of acculturation.Results. Results indicated two school readiness belief profiles. Parents in the first profile primarily emphasized academic skills; parents in the second profile primarily emphasized learning-related skills. Parents' country of origin predicted their profile membership. Six themes emerged to explain parents' school readiness beliefs. Although parents in the two profiles prioritized different skills, parents' reasoning about the importance of select skills showed many similarities.Conclusions. Study findings provide a nuanced view of immigrant parents' school readiness beliefs, which is particularly useful for early childhood educators to consider as they develop culturally responsive family-school partnerships.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic surge in anti-Asian racism in the United States. Asians have been blamed for the pandemic. Multicultural education improves cross-cultural understanding and reduces discrimination. Parental racial socialization is an important facet of multicultural education as parents convey racial and ethnic messages to their children. Yet, little research has documented parental racial socialization in Asian families. To address this gap, the authors interviewed 19 Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter shows that discrimination experiences start at an early age and have a lasting impact. Discrimination of Asians is related to the perpetual foreigner stereotype and the model minority myth. These impede how Asians understand their racial discrimination experiences and how families discuss race and ethnicity. All parents in the study expressed how critical parental racial socialization was during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that schools are essential to supporting multicultural education at home.

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