| Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Hispanics living in the United States (U.S.) (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). One of the main risk factors for heart disease is diabetes. More Hispanics suffer from diabetes than any other ethnic group. As the number of Hispanics living in the U.S. increases, so does the number of persons at risk for developing or currently suffering from diabetes. It is necessary that practitioners be aware of successful methods of promoting health in order to decrease the burden of disease in Hispanic communities. One strategy is the identification of communities or individuals at increased risk for disease so that cost effective disease prevention interventions may be utilized. A thorough literature review indicated that community health workers (CHWs) are effective patient educators, motivators, and advocates. This capstone project examines the use of Latino CHWs in the roles of risk identifiers and educators in rural Virginia Latino migrant farmworker communities. This quasi-experimental study found that there is no statistically significant difference in the results obtained when the CHWs or RNs screen Latino farmworkers for diabetes and CVD risk.;Keywords: community health worker, Hispanic, rural, migrant, diabetes, risk assessment, cardiovascular disease. |
