The Latino Migrant Worker HIV Prevention Program

Abstract

There is limited information on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on Latino migrant workers (LMWs), although available data indicate that this community is being disproportionally affected. The need for prevention programs that address the specific needs of LMWs is becoming well recognized. HIV prevention interventions that train and employ community health workers are a culturally appropriate way to address the issues of community trust and capacity building in this community. This article describes the Latino Migrant Worker HIV Prevention Program and its efforts to train and engage community health workers in the prevention of HIV among LMWs in South Florida.

Peer Training of Community Health Workers to Improve Heart Health Among African American Women

“…The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 is one vehicle for integration of CHWs and defines a CHW as an “individual who promotes health or nutrition within the community in which the individual resides.” Systematic literature reviews provide strong support for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of CHWs across a range of health system processes and conditions, including hypertension screening and control (Brownstein et al, 2007), diabetes self-management (Norris et al, 2006), cancer screening (Mock et al, 2007; Wells et al, 2011), asthma control (Margellos-Anast, Gutierrez, & Whitman, 2012; Parker et al, 2008), improving prenatal care (McGlade, Saha, & Dahlstrom, 2004), and HIV/AIDS prevention (Sánchez, Silva-Suarez, Serna, & De La Rosa, 2012). Because CHWs have close ties to the communities they serve, they are able to deliver cost-effective health education and health promotion and prevention services in a more culturally appropriate manner, reach populations that are inaccessible via conventional methods, improve provider–client communication, and increase the impact of outreach efforts through ongoing contact (Kelly et al, 1991; Rhodes, 1994; Viswanathan et al, 2009).…”

Developing Research and Community Literacies to Recruit Latino Researchers and Practitioners to Address Health Disparities

“…This framework has been carried forward by CBPR researchers seeking to promote health equity [3, 12, 16, 25]. …”

“…This requires that both groups engage in a bidirectional learning process with a long-term goal of reducing health disparities. The transfer of research literacy (understood as a cluster of knowledge, language, concepts, and skills) empowers community residents to participate actively in research that is being conducted about them and their community [15, 16]. Likewise, the transfer of local community literacy increases the capacity of researchers (and their institutions and funders) to understand the needs of the community and reconcile them with their own academic priorities [17, 18].…”

“…Likewise, to develop the required research skills for the meaningful participation of community members in an HIV research project, Sanchez and colleagues designed a curriculum on the basic principles of CBPR, research ethics, and both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and delivered it using a dialogical Freirean education methodology [16]. Even less has been written about community literacy training for faculty and students to build their capacity effectively to develop and maintain CBPR partnerships.…”

Project Salud: Efficacy of a Community-Based HIV Prevention Intervention for Hispanic Migrant Workers in South Florida

“…Two CHWs played a key role as outreach workers and interviewers while four different CHWs delivered both interventions. A detailed description of this training program is described in a recently published article (Sanchez, Silva-Suarez, Serna, & De La Rosa, 2012). …”