CHW Roles and Functions

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A woman holding her newborn baby and an older woman talking to her.

The roles and functions of CHWs are as follows:

Cultural mediation between communities and health and human services system
Culturally appropriate health education and information
Ensuring people get the services they need
Informal counseling and social support
Advocating for individual, community needs
Providing direct services, mainly in remote areas, and meeting basic needs
Building individual and community capacity

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The 1998 National Community Health Advisor Study, referenced earlier, is no longer in print, but the executive summary is available at the Web address shown on this slide. The study was the first systematic attempt to delineate CHW roles and functions, which it defined as:

Cultural mediation between communities and the health and human services system
Providing culturally appropriate health education and information
Ensuring that people get the services they need
Informal counseling and social support
Advocating for individual and community needs
Providing direct services, mainly in remote areas, and meeting basic needs
Building individual and community capacity

Note the overlap of these roles and functions with those found in the definition reviewed a moment ago. You can see how this list of functions has influenced such definitions.