Community Health Workers and Promotoras (CHW/Ps) are valued for their role in helping to engage community members in research. CHW/Ps have traditionally received variable training in research fundamentals, including importance and promotion of research rigor to establish consistency in the methods used over time. Research best practices training exists for research professionals, but no standard training is provided as part of the CHW/P job role. To develop this CHW/P research best practices training, our team engaged English- and Spanish-speaking CHW/Ps to watch an early version of an online module and to examine perceptions of the relevance of such a training and optimal delivery methods.

Six virtual focus group discussions were conducted (three in English and three in Spanish) across different US geographic regions with currently employed CHW/Ps.

Forty CHW/Ps participated (95% female, mean age 44 years, 58% identifying as Hispanic/Latino). Four themes emerged: relevance of training, benefits of providing a certificate of completion, flexible training delivery modalities, and peer-led training.

With participation from representatives of the intended learner group of CHW/Ps, our team found that CHW/Ps valued learning about research best practices. They perceived culturally- and linguistically appropriate health research training to be highly relevant to their role, particularly for communicating key information to community members about their participation in health research. Additionally, participants provided input on effective dissemination of the training including the benefit of having proof of course completion, involvement of peer trainers, and value of providing the option to participate in online training.

Primary care providers (PCPs) are expected to help patients with obesity to lose weight through behavior change counseling and patient-centered use of available weight management resources. Yet, many PCPs face knowledge gaps and clinical time constraints that hinder their ability to successfully support patients’ weight loss. Fortunately, a small and growing number of physicians are now certified in obesity medicine through the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM) and can provide personalized and effective obesity treatment to individual patients. Little is known, however, about how to extend the expertise of ABOM-certified physicians to support PCPs and their many patients with obesity.

To develop and pilot test an innovative care model – the Weight Navigation Program (WNP) – to integrate ABOM-certified physicians into primary care settings and to enhance the delivery of personalized, effective obesity care.

Quality improvement program with an embedded, 12-month, single-arm pilot study. Patients with obesity and ≥1 weight-related co-morbidity may be referred to the WNP by PCPs. All patients seen within the WNP during the first 12 months of clinical operations will be compared to a matched cohort of patients from another primary care site. We will recruit a subset of WNP patients (n = 30) to participate in a remote weight monitoring pilot program, which will include surveys at 0, 6, and 12 months, qualitative interviews at 0 and 6 months, and use of an electronic health record (EHR)-based text messaging program for remote weight monitoring.

Obesity is a complex chronic condition that requires evidence-based, personalized, and longitudinal care. To deliver such care in general practice, the WNP leverages the expertise of ABOM-certified physicians, health system and community weight management resources, and EHR-based population health management tools. The WNP is an innovative model with the potential to be implemented, scaled, and sustained in diverse primary care settings.