A health promotion curriculum for community health workers

The theme of the 77th annual Canadian Public Health Conference, "Health Promotion: Strategies for Action", reflects consideration of a changing mandate for public health. To address the trend away from prevention to health promotion, the New Westminster Seniors Bureau and the Keep Well Project (B.C. Ministry of Health), with funding from Canada Employment and Immigration, have developed a health promotion curriculum for community health workers. The curriculum is a framework for teaching a post-basic course in health promotion to healthcare professionals and community service workers preparing to develop and coordinate community programs for seniors. The purpose of this paper is to outline the development and the content of the curriculum. The development of the curriculum follows a 4-step process: 1. needs assessment; 2. program planning; 3. Implementation; and 4. evaluation and recommendations. The curriculum which was produced includes objectives, issues, and a current bibliography relative to ten content areas and was piloted as a series of ten workshops held at Douglas College in the Spring of 1986.