Public health skills for a lay workforce: findings on skills and attributes from a qualitative study of lay health worker roles

Objectives: To present a typology of attributes associated with lay health worker (LHW) roles drawn from a qualitative study of lay roles in the delivery of public health programmes.

Study design: Qualitative research study of case studies of public health projects.

Methods: Five case studies of public health projects were undertaken, reflecting diverse roles, public health issues and populations. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were carried out with a sample of 136 stakeholders, including commissioners, practitioners, LHWs and service users. Thematic analysis was conducted within and across cases.

Results: Findings on the pre-eminence of social skills associated with LHW roles were consistent across all five projects. Being approachable, non-judgemental and responsive to community needs were critical attributes that enabled LHWs to undertake outreach and communicate successfully with programme recipients. Experiential knowledge and cultural understanding were also important qualities. A typology of attributes associated with LHW roles is presented.

Conclusions: Social skills, the ability to connect with a community, and the ability to develop respectful relationships are fundamental qualities for LHW roles. Further research would be required to produce a comprehensive map of LHW skills; however, the paper questions assumptions that lay skills are necessarily of a lower order than the professional skill set.