JOURNAL OF AMBULATORY CARE MANAGEMENT

Reflecting a rising interest in community health workers in the United States and ongoing interest around the globe, a number of peer-reviewed journals are currently publishing special issues dedicated to community health workers. These journals provide an important venue to share practice and policy changes related to the development of individual CHWs and CHW programs as well as the field overall.

The Journal of Ambulatory Care Management was the first to announce its special issue; given the response, the JACM editors decided they will produce two consecutive special issues. It has been an interesting opportunity to serve as a co-editor of the Journal’s special issues along with N.Y.-based global health specialist James Macinko, PhD. In these issues, manuscripts address an array of topics predominately centered on increasing understanding of CHW practice and how it is changing over time.  Articles further explore CHW integration in various practice centers including within the primary care setting as part of medical home teams. The issues include a special feature, “Community Health Worker Voices,” that features brief pieces solicited from CHWs and CHW programs sharing about their work from their own point of view. Also in both issues authors were asked, when appropriate, to fill in what we call the Key Comparative Elements Table so that readers can more readily grasp similarities and differences between CHW services and programs ultimately helping to add better definition to the field. 

The July/September 2011 issue of JACM is available at:

http://journals.lww.com/ambulatorycaremanagement/pages/default.aspx

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Community health workers are increasingly acknowledged as playing an essential role in helping to improve the delivery of public health services to many marginalized populations. The American Journal of Public Health editorial team and board broadly support the timeliness of this topic. Therefore, AJPH plans to have a theme issue on “Community Health Workers and Public Health” in late 2011 or early 2012. Submissions are welcome that address issues related to: community health workers and access to care; community health workers and reduction of disparities in health; community health workers and their integration into new models of comprehensive care; community health workers and their role in Health Care Reform; training, certification and payment of the community health worker workforce; and other related topics.