TY - JOUR
T1 - A successful program for training parent mentors to provide assistance with obtaining health insurance for uninsured children
AU - Flores, Glenn
AU - Walker, Candy
AU - Lin, Hua
AU - Lee, Michael
AU - Fierro, Marco
AU - Henry, Monica
AU - Massey, Kenneth
AU - Portillo, Alberto
N1 - Funding Information:
Presented in part as a poster at the annual meetings of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Vancouver, BC, May 4, 2014, and AcademyHealth in San Diego, Calif, on June 10, 2014. Supported in part by Award Number R01HD066219 (to GF) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NICHD or the National Institutes of Health. We are grateful to all of the Kids' HELP parent mentors for their enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication to improving the health and health care of uninsured children.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 by Academic Pediatric Association.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - Abstract Objective Seven million US children lack health insurance. Community health workers are effective in insuring uninsured children, and parent mentors (PMs) in improving asthmatic children's outcomes. It is unknown, however, whether a training program can result in PMs acquiring knowledge/skills to insure uninsured children. The study aim was to determine whether a PM training program results in improved knowledge/skills regarding insuring uninsured minority children. Methods Minority parents in a primary-care clinic who already had Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)-covered children were selected as PMs, attending a 2-day training session addressing 9 topics. A 33-item pretraining test assessed knowledge/skills regarding Medicaid/CHIP, the application process, and medical homes. A 46-item posttest contained the same 33 pretest items (ordered differently) and 13 Likert-scale questions on training satisfaction. Results All 15 PMs were female and nonwhite, 60% were unemployed, and the mean annual income was $20,913. After training, overall test scores (0-100 scale) significantly increased, from a mean of 62 (range 39-82) to 88 (range 67-100) (P <.01), and the number of wrong answers decreased (mean reduction 8; P <.01). Significant improvements occurred in 6 of 9 topics, and 100% of PMs reported being very satisfied (86%) or satisfied (14%) with the training. Preliminary data indicate PMs are significantly more effective than traditional Medicaid/CHIP outreach/enrollment in insuring uninsured minority children. Conclusions A PM training program resulted in significant improvements in knowledge and skills regarding outreach to and enrollment of uninsured, Medicaid/CHIP-eligible children, with high levels of satisfaction with the training. This PM training program might be a useful model for training Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act navigators.
AB - Abstract Objective Seven million US children lack health insurance. Community health workers are effective in insuring uninsured children, and parent mentors (PMs) in improving asthmatic children's outcomes. It is unknown, however, whether a training program can result in PMs acquiring knowledge/skills to insure uninsured children. The study aim was to determine whether a PM training program results in improved knowledge/skills regarding insuring uninsured minority children. Methods Minority parents in a primary-care clinic who already had Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)-covered children were selected as PMs, attending a 2-day training session addressing 9 topics. A 33-item pretraining test assessed knowledge/skills regarding Medicaid/CHIP, the application process, and medical homes. A 46-item posttest contained the same 33 pretest items (ordered differently) and 13 Likert-scale questions on training satisfaction. Results All 15 PMs were female and nonwhite, 60% were unemployed, and the mean annual income was $20,913. After training, overall test scores (0-100 scale) significantly increased, from a mean of 62 (range 39-82) to 88 (range 67-100) (P <.01), and the number of wrong answers decreased (mean reduction 8; P <.01). Significant improvements occurred in 6 of 9 topics, and 100% of PMs reported being very satisfied (86%) or satisfied (14%) with the training. Preliminary data indicate PMs are significantly more effective than traditional Medicaid/CHIP outreach/enrollment in insuring uninsured minority children. Conclusions A PM training program resulted in significant improvements in knowledge and skills regarding outreach to and enrollment of uninsured, Medicaid/CHIP-eligible children, with high levels of satisfaction with the training. This PM training program might be a useful model for training Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act navigators.
KW - adolescent
KW - child
KW - community health workers
KW - medically uninsured
KW - mentors
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U2 - 10.1016/j.acap.2014.09.011
DO - 10.1016/j.acap.2014.09.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 25447369
AN - SCOPUS:84928332659
SN - 1876-2859
VL - 15
SP - 275
EP - 281
JO - Academic Pediatrics
JF - Academic Pediatrics
IS - 3
M1 - 647
ER -