Educating the Public Health Workforce

Public health leaders are working to rebuild the US public health workforce. Master of Public Health (MPH) programs have a stake in this, given their role in educating and training public health practitioners. Over the last 10 years, MPH programs have implemented changes to program structure, content, and approach, but workforce gaps persist. This study sought to explore the factors that inform and influence MPH program design and changes they make in order to elucidate how MPH programs may be further engaged to help address current and future public health workforce needs. Sequential mixed-methods study. US MPH programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), and applicants approved to seek accreditation. In total, 115 representatives representing at least 43% of the 215 accredited/applicant MPH programs in the United States. Factors that inform and influence programmatic and curricular changes within MPH programs. The shifts that MPH programs have made to program focus and the approaches used to support student competence development are influenced by individual, programmatic, institutional, and national factors, including faculty and staff background, access to resources, program team/faculty culture, access to resources, program placement, university priorities, and national policies. Most influential in catalyzing changes made by MPH programs between 2015 and 2020 were CEPH MPH accreditation standards, feedback from interested parties, learning best practices, university initiatives, and access to resources including funding and faculty. Identified factors served as facilitators and/or as barriers, depending on the context. There are multiple levers at different levels that may be utilized by national public health leaders, university administrators, and program constituents to effect change within MPH programs, helping them to be even better positioned to help address public health workforce needs of today and tomorrow.

Regional Public Health Training Centers: An Essential Partner in Workforce Development.

Development of a strategy in public health (PH) education is crucial for Macedonia in providing modern education for actual PH practice. Establishing a School of Public Health (SPH) is vital for a country in a health transition with high rates of preventable diseases. The main strategic goals in modern PH education in Macedonia should be capacity building, improving the competencies of PH professionals, serving communities, participating in the policy, and partnership development. Expectations were expressed through two key points: strengthening institutional capacity in the area of PH and institutional development of SPH. The organizational structure of the new Center of Public Health is based on existing human resources and infrastructure. Medical Faculty initiated development of a postgraduate PH teaching program [Master of Public Health (MPH)] provided by the newly formed Center of Public Health within the Medical Faculty Skopje. The Macedonian MPH program has been developed with modular-type courses as a part-time teaching program in four semesters within a 2-year period. This program is designed to cover all the basics of PH sciences and practice, including basic and elective courses, workshops, research forum. and master's thesis with a credit transfer system in PH education. The main assets for SPH development are knowledge and skills of the constantly improving teaching staff. Successful preliminary evaluation of the Macedonian SPH project, being qualified “as a model for SPH development,” led to full Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) membership. Sustainability of this program will require continuing support although a remarkable beginning has been achieved. The next strategic goal is continuing development of SPH with fiscal and academic autonomy and preparing formal ASPHER Public Health Education European Review (PEER). This SPH recognized the main communicating message of the New Public Health: “Moving with the time.” New Public Health is determined by a dual approach: to be modern, and to grow and to build the tradition in PH education. The development of Macedonian SPH represents a new orientation toward science, philosophy, culture, and life and promotes new spirit and movement in PH in this region of Europe.

The growing prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias and the urgent need for public health awareness necessitates innovative, interactive, and accessible dementia training for students entering the workforce. The curriculum, A Public Health Approach to Dementia, is a new tool to meet this need. Through partnership between the Alzheimer’s Association, CDC, and Emory Centers, four new modules were launched in 2023 and 2024. These free, asynchronous, online learning modules support the training needs of the current and future public health workforce. Throughout the development, the team relied on students, researchers, professors and practitioners to ensure the modules provide accessible, comprehensive knowledge on the public health approach to dementia. The curriculum includes courses on the public health impact of dementia, health equity and dementia, and public health and dementia caregiving. Data from the first two modules released in 2023, show that they are impactful. Health Equity in Dementia — Using a Public Health Lens to Advance Health Equity in Alzheimer’s and Other Dementia was released in August and has over 520 people enrolled. Public Health and Dementia Caregiving was released in December and has over 200 people enrolled. Both modules had over 900 registrants for each launch webinar. Across both modules, most learners reported an increase in knowledge after taking the course (89% and 92%) and reported that it will be useful in their work or studies (87% and 90%). This curriculum demonstrates the strengths of partnering across backgrounds and expertise to support innovative learning opportunities for students entering the workforce.

Foundation and Continuation of Public Health ReviewsPublic Health Reviews (PHR) was founded in 1972 in Israel and published for over 30 years, with listing in Pubmed, Medline and Index Medicus and many other on-line data bases until the owner retired. The journal was purchased in 2010 by the EHESP (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sante Publique, the French National School of public health) and established with a distinguished international Editorial Board.The mission of PHR since 2010 has been to provide access to European and global public health students, teachers, researchers, practitioners and policy makers of theme topic reviews of high quality to promote learning and discussion of issues in public health from a multi disciplinary point of view. The Editorial Board participated actively in policy development and leadership of many of the theme issues that evolved. PHR strives to bring topical reviews to promote translation of evidence and science into applied public health policy and practice, including the evolution of health systems as part of public health spectrum [1].The theme topics PHR issues during 2010-2013 included:*The New Public Health*Ageing Societies*Public Health Education*Cardiovascular Disease*Ethics in Public Health*Mental Health as a Public Health Issue*Towards a Healthier 2020, and*Substance Use Issues: New Insights.The New Home for Public Health Reviews 2014In 2014, a further reformation of PHR was arranged with affiliation and sponsorship by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), along with continued sponsorship by EHESP, and an additional sponsor, a Swiss School of public health. An agreement was signed with Biomed Central to publish PHR as an online open access journal. The new arrangements for sponsorship and operation of PHR provided for the continued mission of each issue addressing concepts such as health disparities, social determinants of health, demographic shifts and changing patterns of health needs, education of the public health workforce and policy makers, and healthcare delivery systems. [1].A new Editorial Board (EB) was organized with a strengthened European, international and multi-disciplinary composition to continue the excellent work of the previous EB. A core group of ASPHER representatives working with the editorial team provided important support over the transition period. The previous policies of theme issues will be augmented by accepting individually submitted review papers which fit in with topical issues. PHR will strive to achieve monthly issues, yielding 30 articles annually, with free for online access, including archived previous volumes.The Opening Issue of PHR in 2015The initial issue is a follow up to the 2012 volume on public health ethics. A second issue of PHR on this theme within four years of a previous issue is based on the initiative of ASPHER to prepare curriculum material for formal and informal teaching of public health ethics in the European context as explained in the Lee and Royo-Bordonada editorial [2], and Towards Public Health Ethics [3]. A European oriented curriculum will need relevant case studies for the organized teaching of ethics in public health education programs for undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Europe, in parallel to current Canadian and U.S. initiatives in public health ethics case studies [4].Public health has many enormous achievements to its credit adding many years of life expectancy globally. But public health has also suffered from past ethical failures of staggering proportions in the 20th century through association with eugenics. The most egregious of these was the active and passive participation of medical and public health professionals in interpretations of eugenics which led to mass sterilization and the murder of handicapped people, and participation in the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. …

Oral cancer (OC) is a significant public health problem; however, the degree to which the future public health workforce is aware of this issue is not well researched. The purpose of this study is to explore the level of knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions about OC among public health students.A sequential exploratory mixed-method research design was employed for this study. Using quantitative and qualitative measures, a survey was administered to 129 public health students. Subsequently, to understand the quantitative findings, two follow-up focus groups were conducted with survey participants.We found that participants had some knowledge about OC risk factors, but they were not aware of survival rate of it. About 58.9% of the participants responded the survival rate for OC is ‘more than 61%’. The majority of the respondents (67%) had never heard about OC exams. In the focus group, four major themes were identified: lack of knowledge, strategies to educate the community about OC, current public health practices around OC prevention, and role of public health professionals in this. Participants felt the need for collaboration between oral health and public health to raise awareness about OC in the community.Participants’ knowledge and awareness about OC was encouraging but at the same time, it raised a concern about their competency in OC prevention interventions. Ensuring holistic oral health education through the coordination of public health and oral healthcare services can play a critical role in preparing future public health workforce for OC prevention.

The emergence of COVID-19 immediately affected higher education, and the closure of campuses at the start of the pandemic in March of 2020 forced educational institutions to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Schools of public health faced challenges not only of shifting to remote learning and work environments, but also uniquely redirecting public health research and service efforts toward COVID-19. This paper offers a case study of how the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University (GWSPH), the only school of public health in the nation's capital, initially adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a modified version of the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competency Model created by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we analyze how GWSPH worked in three areas—research, education, service/operations. We reviewed this initial response across four domains: model leadership; communication and management of information; planning and improving practice; and protecting worker (and student) health and safety. The adaptation of the model and the analysis of GWSPH's initial response to the pandemic can be useful to other schools of public health and health sciences in the United States and beyond, in preparing for all hazards. We hope that such analysis also informs the current concerns of schools such as return to in-person education as well as planning for future public health crises.

Characterizing the Competencies for Public Health Graduates in Australasia: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study

Discipline-specific workforce development initiatives have been a focus in recent years. This is due, in part, to competency-based training standards and funding sources that reinforce programmatic silos within state and local health departments. National leadership groups representing the specific disciplines within public health were asked to look beyond their discipline-specific priorities and collectively assess the priorities, needs, and characteristics of the governmental public health workforce. The challenges and opportunities facing the public health workforce and crosscutting priority training needs of the public health workforce as a whole were evaluated. Key informant interviews were conducted with 31 representatives from public health member organizations and federal agencies. Interviews were coded and analyzed for major themes. Next, 10 content briefs were created on the basis of priority areas within workforce development. Finally, an in-person priority setting meeting was held to identify top workforce development needs and priorities across all disciplines within public health. Representatives from 31 of 37 invited public health organizations participated, including representatives from discipline-specific member organizations, from national organizations and from federal agencies. Systems thinking, communicating persuasively, change management, information and analytics, problem solving, and working with diverse populations were the major crosscutting areas prioritized. Decades of categorical funding created a highly specialized and knowledgeable workforce that lacks many of the foundational skills now most in demand. The balance between core and specialty training should be reconsidered.

which does not have a school of public health (SPH) The University of Washington School of Public Health (UW SPH) in Seattle, Washington, has met this chal-lenge by expanding and reorganizing its international public health teaching. We have established competen -cies for our global health MPH scholars, with a focus on addressing large public health problems with a social justice perspective.The emergence of the global health concept over the last decade reflects heightened awareness of accelerating globalization processes that challenge the traditionally drawn boundaries between the interna-tional and domestic health professional worlds. While the precise definition of global health continues to be contested, it is widely agreed that increased global flows of resources, information, people, and infectious diseases, together with growing global inequality, have created new public health problems that require fresh and innovative approaches. With this recognition has come a spate of new global health centers, departments, institutes, and programs in American and European universities that seek to redefine approaches to public health and recalibrate training to new global health realities for the next generation of health researchers and practitioners. While the urgency for such redefined training is apparent, there is little in the current public health literature that attempts to identify just what this training should include. In spite of new global health program proliferation, core professional global health competencies have yet to be defined, and no consensus for development of appropriate curricula has emerged in the public health field. The recent creation of a new Department of Global Health (DGH) at UW has presented cur-riculum planners, charged with developing new MPH, doctor of philosophy (PhD), and doctor of medicine programs, with these immediate challenges. This article describes the consensus-building process conducted by the DGH curriculum committee over a one-year period in which global health competencies were identified and curriculum needs redefined. While debates about the meaning and scope of global health will continue, basic guidelines for new kinds of training are urgently needed to prepare health workers for the rapidly chang-ing environment they will soon confront.Through this recently established DGH (which has received much of its new funding through an endowed grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), UW is poised to rapidly expand its international health student enrollment, course offerings, and degree programs. Other prominent universities have launched similar efforts in just the last two years. In 2006, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, to date, launched a new Global Health Institute, which started its education program with an undergraduate certificate. The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, launched a Center for Global Health, bringing together its SPHs, medicine, and nursing schools in a collaborative effort. In addition, other schools such as The George Washington University in Washington, DC, have recently started offering MPH degrees in global health.As UW prepared to launch its DGH—a collaboration between the SPH and the school of medicine—the curriculum committee of the existing international health program embarked on a complete review of UW’s current course offerings in anticipation of growth and expansion. We found very little guidance for this effort in the public health literature. Patrick reported major gaps in public health training, along with the implication of inadequate coursework in SPHs and in medical schools.

Accessible public-health education: a potential growth area?

In Australia, consistent with the global picture, the development of a multidisciplinary public health workforce and its education have evolved, mainly because of government reforms driven by comprehensive social initiatives. Recent polycrises – natural and man-made disasters and crises – shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian public health effort and its workforce education. Internationally accepted and recently redeveloped multidisciplinary competencies are available, however Australian public health education is not routinely accredited, and much of the public health workforce lacks appropriate education and training. Public health qualifications are not routinely required for the public health workforce so, for graduates, appropriate work is hard to find. Academic public health staff are driven by metrics, that do not measure education quality or appropriateness of the content. In the current era of polycrises as well as rapidly evolving scientific knowledge, public health education providers must work in tandem with governments to prepare a workforce ready to deliver essential public health functions with the flexibility to adapt to emerging health challenges, pointing to how education must be developed to ensure an appropriately educated, trained, future-proofed workforce in both the art and science of public health.

The National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE, the Board) is the result of many years of intense discussion about the importance of credentialing within the public health community. The Board is scheduled to begin credentialing graduates of programs and schools of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) in 2008. Among the many activities currently underway to improve public health practice, the Board views credentialing as one pathway to heighten recognition of public health professionals and increase the overall effectiveness of public health practice. The process underway includes developing, preparing, administering, and evaluating a voluntary certification examination that tests whether graduates of CEPH-accredited schools and programs have mastered the core knowledge and skills relevant to contemporary public health practice. This credentialing initiative is occurring at a time of heightened interest in public health education, and an anticipated rapid turnover in the public health workforce. It is fully anticipated that active discussion about the credentialing process will continue as the Board considers the many aspects of this professional transition. The Board wishes to encourage these discussions and welcomes input on any aspects relating to implementation of the credentialing process.

A Continuing Education Preference Survey of Public Health Graduates

Although previous studies have focused on the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on various professional groups (particularly in the health and nursing care sector), this study aims to close a research gap by assessing perspectives of students and young professionals in epidemiology and public health in Germany in terms of shifts in workload, work content, and related challenges caused by the pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional survey between mid-February and mid-March 2022. Quantitative data were analyzed via standardized mean differences. Qualitative data based on answers to open-ended questions were analyzed via a qualitative content analysis. Overall, 172 individuals participated in this survey. Results indicate that students felt burdened the most by lack of exchange with other students and lecturers. Study participants employed in public health experienced changes in their employment because they had changes in their work content- and administration, which was accompanied by a high burden due to the workload. Multiple demands that can have an impact on both acquired skills and mental health during the professional qualification phase were mentioned by the participants. Therefore, more in-depth analyses are needed to investigate the impact the pandemic will have on the (future) public health workforce in the long run.