European Community Health Worker Online Survey (ECHOES): Final Report

This report was prepared as part of the ESTICOM (European Surveys and Training to Improve MSM Community Health) Project, which is a three year tender from 28 August 2016 to 27 August 2019 contracted by the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) of the European Commission. The ESTICOM Project involves 9 organisations under a consortium led by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany.
The purpose of the ESTICOM project is to strengthen the community response and raise awareness about the persisting legal, structural, political and social barriers hindering a more effective response to HIV, viral Hepatitis and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay, bisexual and other men that have sex with men (MSM). With this purpose, the consortium will deliver on three interlinked projects or objectives:
 Objective 1: A European online survey of gay, bisexual and other MSM (EMIS-2017),
 Objective 2: A European online survey of community health workers (CHWs) who provide sexual health support in a community setting directly to gay, bisexual and other MSM (ECHOES),
 Objective 3: Development and piloting of a training programme for MSM-focused CHW to be adaptable for all EU countries.
This report falls under Objective 2, coordinated by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies on HIV/AIDS and STIs of Catalonia (CEEISCAT), which is built on four Work Packages (WPs): a review of CHW’s knowledge, attitudes and practices about sexual health of gay, bisexual and other MSM, including existing surveys and training materials (WP5), a CHW online survey design (WP6), promotion and execution of the survey (WP7) and data analysis and survey report (WP8).
ECHOES aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of CHWs providing sexual health services to gay men, bisexual men and other MSM in European settings. This first ever survey for European CHWs was available in 16 languages and went online in October 2017 for a period of four months.
This report presents descriptive analyses of the survey and can be used as baseline data to provide a preliminary picture of the CHWs who work with gay, bisexual and other MSM in Europe and neighbouring countries. It provides the first data for the evaluation and further improvement of training programmes and materials for training of CHWs working with gay men, bisexual men and other MSM. This report may also be a useful instrument for advocacy, for enhancing CHW visibility and recognition at national, regional, and international levels, and for helping future funding applications.