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Introduction to Interviewing for CHWs

What interviewing skills do you need to gain insight into the strengths, assets and challenges of your clients and communities?


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Course Information

  • Audience: Community Health Workers and other public health professionals needing client interviewing skills to capture information relevant to the services offered by your agency/network..
  • Format: Self-paced
  • Price: Free
  • Length: 45 minutes
  • Credential(s) eligible for contact hours:

    Sponsored by New England Public Health Training Center (NEPHTC), a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designated for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES) to receive up to .75 total Category I continuing education contact hour.  Maximum advanced-level continuing education contact hour is .75.  Provider ID: 1131137 Event ID: SS1131137_IICHW
    If you are not seeking a CHES/MCHES contact hours, if you complete the post-test and evaluation, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. The Certificate will include the length of the course.

  • Competencies: Communication Skills
  • Learning Level: Awareness
  • Companion trainings: Introduction to HIPAA for CHWs
    Introduction to Ethics for CHWs and
    Introduction to Outreach Methods and Strategies
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Supplemental materials: PREPARE Tool
  • Technical Requirements: This training was created with Articulate Storyline. Please refer to the Articulate 360 System Specifications to ensure your system meets the minimum requirements for viewing.


About this course

Community Health Worker interviews capture information about client circumstances relevant to the services offered by CHW agencies and/or network. The interview process relies on multiple skills and is one of the most important tools used by CHWs.


What you'll learn

After completing this course, you will be able to...

  • Identify a tool used by CHWs to assess Social Determinants of Health (SDH)
  • Explain 3 tasks to complete prior to the CHW interview
  • Identify skills used in a client interview
  • List 2-3 protocols to understand prior to beginning the interview


Subject Matter Expert


  • Dawn Heffernan

  • Dawn Heffernan is a nurse and a public health professional who has supervised and trained community health workers for over a decade. Ms. Heffernan is passionate about community health and education. In addition to developing training for the New Public Health Training Center, she is currently working for Partners in Health as a case investigator for the corona virus pandemic.



    Enrollment and Contact Hours

    Select the Enroll button below to register for the course. If you have any trouble accessing the course, contact support@nephtc.org.


    Acknowledgement:  This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31685 “Regional Public Health Training Center Program.” This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

    * Yale School of Public Health, Office of Public Health Practice, a New England Public Health Training Center partner, is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. All CHES credit inquiries are managed by YSPH

Self enrollment (Student)
Self enrollment (Student)