The role of community health workers in diabetes: Update on current literature

Abstract

Community health worker (CHW) interventions have been found to be a promising strategy for improving diabetes outcomes, especially among low-income and racial and ethnic minority populations. This review serves as an update of the literature published since 2011 on CHWs' role in diabetes care. In our review of the most current literature, we noted several key areas of advancement. These areas include community-based participatory research approaches to intervention development and evaluation, analyses of the cost effectiveness of CHW interventions, evaluation of sustainability through integrated team-based approaches, thorough descriptions of characteristics and training of CHWs, and delineation of the scope of practice and most effective roles for CHWs. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.