Mobile Health Training Program: An Innovative Model for Non-Academic Health Centers
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Background. Access to healthcare and mental health services for migrant farmworkers is limited, given the nature of seasonal farm work, characteristics of migrant farmworkers, including migration patterns, and capacity and availability of health and mental health services in the local community. It is essential to consider these contextual elements when exploring a community-academic partnership to increase access to care for migrant farmworkers. Objectives. The three-fold purpose of this study was to explore the integration of nursing faculty and students from a regional public university’s School of Nursing into a rural farmworker health outreach program’s mobile clinic process, the conducting of depression screenings in mobile outreach services to migrant farmworkers, and the assisting with development and implementation of a structured follow-up process to ensure that affordable and accessible behavioral healthcare reaches this population. Methods. A feasibility study was undertaken using Bowen1 feasibility framework. Results. The results of this community-academic partner study indicated that integrating faculty and students into the farmworker health outreach program’s mobile clinic process was indeed feasible. Confirming mental health treatment options is required before enhanced depression screening. Conclusions. Integrating primary care and mental health faculty providers and students into an outreach program’s mobile health process to increase migrant farmworker access to care has several nuances that require consideration before operationalizing such a partnership. Findings from this study may inform the development of innovative partnership models between community service providers and schools of nursing based in universities without an academic health/medical center.
