Projects
CHEER is currently completing data analysis for two long-term Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) studies evaluating the effectiveness of peer health navigation for individuals receiving services within a community mental health clinic. One study examines the impact of in-person peer health navigation, while the other evaluates a telehealth-based approach. Together, these studies aim to better understand how peer health navigation can improve engagement in care and support positive health outcomes for individuals with serious mental health conditions.
Peer Navigators for People with Mental Illness Workbook
Workbook-for-African-American-Peer-Navigators-1
People living with serious mental illness experience significantly poorer health outcomes and higher mortality rates than their same-aged peers, with these disparities being even greater among people of color. Through a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) partnership, advocates, providers, researchers, and people with lived experience worked together to better understand these inequities and develop solutions. This collaborative research identified peer navigation as a promising approach to improving engagement with primary care, leading to the development of this Peer Navigator workbook. – 2012
Latino Peer Navigator Workbook
People with serious mental illness, particularly Latinos, experience disproportionately high rates of chronic physical health conditions and barriers to receiving equitable healthcare. In 2014, researchers, providers, advocates, and community members at the Illinois Institute of Technology partnered through a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) project funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to better understand these challenges and develop a Peer Navigator model of integrated care. Findings from this collaborative research suggested that peer navigators can improve engagement in healthcare for Latinos with serious mental illness and informed the development of this manual.