This paper will present the methodological approach as well as some preliminary findings of the Promotoras Organizations Comparative Study. This study is being conducted along the U.S.-Mexico border, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Texas) and in El Paso-Las Cruces (Texas-New Mexico). Funding for this research comes from the Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration. The paper will discuss the methodological structure of the project and how the choice of methods has allowed for an in-depth exploration of promotora organizations, a particular form of community health outreach, education, and community building found along the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, the paper will discuss some of the findings of the study pertaining to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. This discussion will focus on four thematic areas, i.e., the organizational characteristics of the programs that integrate promotores (as) as community health workers; the role that these organizations play in promoting the community health workers’ capacity for self-development; the impact that these organizations, as well as promotores (as) themselves, have on community capacity building; and the identified impacts that this form of community health outreach has on facilitating access and use of services. Finally, the paper will present lines of inquiry identified by the study that could be explored by further research.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the session participants will be able to: 1. Recognize how an ethnographic methodological approach allows for the analysis of a community outreach and health promotion system 2. Articulate the parts of a community outreach and health promotion system 3. Identify need of research regarding the promotora community outreach and health promotion system
Keywords: Community Outreach, Community-Based Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.