The growing body of literature on Community Health Workers/Promotores (CHWs/Ps) has offered validation to the CHWs’/Ps’ profession through evidence of the effectiveness of their interventions, particularly in addressing chronic conditions and specific populations. Studies have also documented positive return on investment in reducing healthcare costs and improving population health. Yet, there are still gaps in understanding the methods of building capacity in CHWs/Ps, identifying the right candidates for CHW/P work, addressing organizational readiness to ensure successful integration. This special research topic issue seeks to address some of those gaps and invites submissions that address topics described in more detail below.

CHWs/Ps are strongly encouraged to be directly involved in the authorship, formulation, and/or review of the content of the abstract and manuscript. Articles must clearly show direct involvement of CHWs/Ps in the focus of the article. CHWs/Ps will be involved in the review of manuscripts.

Articles must address topics related to CHWs/Ps in practice, including: 1) recruitment, 2) training, and 3) integration into teams and systems. We are specifically interested in the how-to’s/methods, lessons learned, evaluation, and best practices. Articles covering an array of topics, populations, sub-populations, and settings will be considered. We are specially interested in recruitment, training/education, and integration of CHWs/Ps across the lifespan, including youth and aging populations.

Articles on these topics may include a focus on:

1. RECRUITMENT
● How do you advertise opportunities for CHW work? Recruitment methods and/or mediums.
● Interview and selection processes
● Criteria for selection (community membership, qualities)
● Other lessons learned and methods

2. TRAINING/EDUCATION
● Curricula development with CHW/P contributions
● Innovative delivery methods: in-person, virtual, other
● How to assess CHW/P readiness to implement into practice
● Workforce capacity building training methods
● Other lessons learned and methods

3. INTEGRATION INTO TEAMS AND SYSTEMS
● Onboarding process and tools
● Organizational readiness for system change and for CHW/P integration
● Actual integration experience in various settings (CHW/P integration in a complex care team, in a behavioral health system, in schools, in community programs, etc.).
● Other lessons learned and methods

Articles types that can be submitted include: Original Research, Brief Research Report, Case Report, Case Study, Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy, Methods, Policy and Practice Reviews, Policy Briefs, Opinion/Perspective.

While all article types listed above are welcomed, we are especially interested in short Case Reports and Community Case Studies that bring to life practice experiences within our three topic focus areas.

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Impact

Frontiers in Public Health

Participating Journals

Impact