Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Training Program
Aim:
The overarching goal of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Training Program is to improve the health and wellbeing of mothers, children, and families through the education of the MCH workforce.
The MCH Training Program works to reach MCH professionals in rural areas who have limited access to relevant continuing education. The MCH Fellowship Program provides MCH-specific education, leadership development, and practical experience to graduate students.
Background and Participating Organizations:
The MCH Training Program is funded by the Title V Block Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and is a collaboration between the University of Texas School of Public Health (UTSPH) and the School of Social Work (SSW) at Grant Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan.
At UTSPH, the MCH Training Program is housed within the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, whose organizational vision of “healthy children in a healthy world” aligns strongly with the purpose of the MCH Training Program. The program has also established partnerships with several community organizations that promote maternal and child health in HRSA Region VI (Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma) and Michigan.
MCH Training Program:
The MCH Training Program provides education, both online and in-person, for MCH professionals. The online training modules make continuing education accessible for MCH professionals who serve diverse MCH populations in isolated, geographic and rural areas. The program collaborates with community organizations to assess the most pertinent training needs of the MCH workforce and then develops specialized, interdisciplinary training modules. The trainings are approved by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) for continuing education units (CEUs) for community health workers (CHWs). See the Resources tab to explore some of our online training courses. Additionally, we have materials for community organizations to host in-person training workshops. Please contact us if interested.
Contact us:
Email us at mch@uth.tmc.edu
Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/MCHTrainingProgram/
View the services we provide on the Details tab.
View our trainings on the Resources tab.
Our Services:
All of our services are provided at no cost to participants.
Training Needs Assessment
- Collaborate with your organization’s representatives,
- Develop a plan to learn the skills and knowledge your employees want to develop.
- Conduct interviews or surveys with key staff to assess their training interests and preferences.
Create Custom Online and Hybrid Trainings
- Develop short courses for online & in-person use
- Review the trainings with your organization and revise it to meet your needs.
- Conduct Expert Reviews of the trainings with professionals in the field to ensure accuracy and depth of the training.
Certified Continuing Education
- Submit trainings for certified continuing education hours as a Community Health Worker certified training center (UTHealth).
- Explore available continuing education credit for your specific licensure or field.
To learn more, email us at mch@uth.tmc.edu
People:
Courtney Byrd-Williams, PhD
Co-Director, Maternal and Child Health Training Program
Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, RD, LD, CNS
Senior Investigator/Mentor
Stephanie Reynolds
Graduate Research Assistant
Mary (Mollie) Ewing
Graduate Research Assistant
Fellows:
- 2014 – 2015
- Emily Beachy
- Rachelle Vega
- 2015 – 2016
- Natalie Cerda
- Meghan Denning
- 2016 – 2017
- Brianna Gay
- Joaquin Villegas
- Lauren Huisman
- Lisa Wagner
- Saroj Rai
- 2017 – 2018
- Amanda Hartmann
- Chukwuemeka (Emeka) Nwachukwu
- Hiba Zwiya
- Liza Felix
The Final Report of the Community Health Worker COVID-19 Survey: Texas Results & Methodology
January 12, 2021 - The Final Report of the Community Health Worker COVID-19 Survey: Texas Results & Methodology
Community Leadership
Duration: 1 hour; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1 DSHS Certified CEU for Community Health Workers; Reflect on your leadership skills, watch videos about leadership, read about characteristics of effective leaders, and most importantly, think about how you would apply these leadership principles in your work.
Addressing Infant Mortality: Preconception Health
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.5 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Explore ways that women's preconception health affects their risk for complications and infant death. Practice counseling women on how to make a life plan.
Community Engagement and Cultural Competence
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers & Program Implementers; Certifications: 1.5 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Explore how cultural competency is needed in healthcare and how to improve cultural competency of your organization. Design an approach to increase cultural competency in a community setting. Develop a plan for increasing community involvement in your program.
Delivery and the First Hour
Duration: 1 hour; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.0 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Describe a birth plan, explain the rights of childbearing women, explore the roles of a birth partner, and explain 3 evidence-based practices for the first hour after an infant is born: skin-to-skin contact, delayed cord clamping, and delayed bathing.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Duration: 1 hour; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.0 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Identify factors that affect the onset of gestational diabetes, causes of the disease, the effect on mother and baby, and how best to prevent and manage it.
Program Planning
Duration: 3 hours; Target Audience: Public Health Program Managers; An introduction to program planning tools, this training includes: the ecological model, creating a logic model, and evidence-based program planning as 3 distinct units. We will walk you through steps to make an evidence-based program plan.
Better Together Part 1: Pregnancy & Fetal Development
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Describe fetal development during a healthy pregnancy, identify the function of a placenta, identify different tests and exams used to assess festal development, and describe the most common birth defects.
Developmental Delays: Fine & Gross Motor Skills
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.5 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Define fine and gross motor skills, Identify typical fine and gross motor skill milestones, and list strategies for in-home parent led interventions to improve motor skills.
Nutrition and Exercise for Mental Wellness
Duration: 1.0 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.0 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Define good physical and mental health, identify how your physical health affects your mental health, identify how nutrition plays a role for your mental wellness, identify good nutrition for your mental and physical wellness, and understand more how physical activity plays a role for your mental wellness.
Overview of Mental Wellness
Duration: 2.0 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 2.0 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; This course provides a broad overview of mental wellness. Course content includes defining mental wellness and understanding the different aspects of mental wellness. This course also describes how to cope with poor mental wellness by highlighting several coping techniques.
Nutrition: 6 to 24 Months
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: 1.5 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; Identify nutrition guidelines at different stages of growth from 6 to 24 months, describe the differences between store bought and homemade baby food, and state strategies for making meal planning easier for families with small children.
Better Together Part 2: Behaviors that Affect Pregnancy
Duration: 1.0 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: DSHS Certified CEUs pending; There are several behaviors that affect the health of the baby during a pregnancy. In this module, we will discuss the behaviors that harm the baby and negatively affect the pregnancy, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of drugs and medicines.
Better Together Part 3: Social Support in Prenatal Care
Duration: 2.0 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers or Support Group Leaders; Certifications: 2.0 DSHS Certified CEUs for Community Health Workers; This course is aimed at increasing awareness of the various benefits of social support groups for both mothers and their offspring. In great detail, this training explains the benefits of social support groups and equips the learner with the skills to create and maintain his or her own social support group.
Safe Sleep
Duration: 1.5 hours; Target Audience: Community Health Workers; Certifications: DSHS Certified CEUs pending; Understand the proper guidelines for safe sleep, outline best practices to improve compliance of parents and caregivers to safe sleep guidelines, state how to reduce perceived barriers to safe sleep, and identify safe sleep environments and potential hazards.
