PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1616506
This article is part of the Research TopicCatalyzing Public Health Leadership Research, Practice, Education, and TrainingView all 15 articles
Generational Perspectives and Advocacy Barriers Among Community Health Workers: Implications for Public Health Workforce Leadership
Provisionally accepted
- 1Día de la Mujer Latina, Pearland, Texas, United States
- 2Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States
- 3Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States
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Community Health Workers (CHWs) play a crucial role in the public health workforce, particularly within underserved communities where they enhance access to healthcare, address social determinants of health, and advocate for health-related policy changes. This Perspective examines how age and experience influence CHWs' involvement in workforce diversity initiatives, advocacy activities, and job satisfaction. Using data from a cross-sectional survey conducted among 306 CHWs during statewide workforce development events in Texas, United States, we identified significant generational and experiential differences in CHW engagement.Younger CHWs (aged 20-30 years) were significantly more inclined to prioritize mentorship and role modeling (p=0.011), while older CHWs (aged 61 years and above) favored policy-driven advocacy (p=0.003). Limited funding was the most frequently reported barrier (48.4%), and CHWs with less than one year of experience reported higher levels of organizational barriers and discrimination. Job satisfaction notably increased with age, reaching 73% among CHWs aged 61 years and older. These insights underscore the need for tailored strategies to strengthen workforce retention, leadership cultivation, and systemic support for CHWs, ultimately enhancing public health infrastructure.
Keywords: Community Health Workers, workforce development, Public health leadership, Generational differences, health equity, Health Policy
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gines, Rodriguez, Lobaina, Torres, Sacca and Mejia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maria Carmenza Mejia, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, 33431, Florida, United States
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