Health inequalities as a foundation for embodying knowledge within public health teaching: a qualitative study.

SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE article Front. Public Health, 18 July 2013Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2013.00020

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

Background International collaborations are valuable yet often undervalued assets that enhance the quality of public health education and bolster the development of the public health workforce. Objectives The Humphrey Fellowship Program, part of the Fulbright Exchange Program, facilitates mid-career professionals’ visits to US-based host universities for an academic year. Fellows engage in a semi-structured fellowship period to achieve self-defined goals, emphasizing professional development, expanded experience, and intercultural exchange. This study advocates for the program’s contribution to enhancing public health education. Results Currently, two universities host fellows in public health. Over decades, fellows have engaged with faculty and professionals, participated in classes and meetings, visited institutions for development purposes, and completed US-based affiliations, contributing significantly to their own and the public health workforce’s advancement. This interaction-based learning approach aids in navigating social and ethical challenges by fostering a deeper understanding of public and global health issues across countries. Conclusions The Humphrey Fellowship Program in public health stands as a commendable model. Similar initiatives could be beneficially replicated in the European region, leveraging local and global successes to strengthen ties with public health education institutions, student communities, and beyond. Key messages • Programs that facilitate international interactions can enhance public health professionals’ understanding of global perspectives. • The Humphrey Fellowship Program in the US stands as a commendable practice for mid-career public health professionals, contributing significant value to the education at host universities.

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.

This chapter describes promoting social justice through education in public health for students in schools of public health, medical school departments of community and preventive medicine, schools of nursing, and elsewhere. It examines how education can equip public health practitioners, researchers, and educators with a social justice perspective that will guide their future. It describes two major developments that provide crucial information and values for developing and implementing social justice curricula: the evolution of human rights law and great progress in the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the social determinants of health and how inequalities and inequities are among the most potent determinants of premature morbidity and mortality. The chapter describes principles of social justice and education in public health. It describes the logic of science added to moral and ethical reasons for social justice. It describes the historical context of the development of the social determinants of health.

Public Health: Local and Global Perspectives presents a comprehensive introduction to public health issues and concepts in the Australian and international contexts. It provides students with fundamental knowledge of the public health field, including frameworks, theories, key organisations and contemporary issues. The third edition features a new chapter on the public health workforce and the importance of advocacy in the profession and a thorough update that includes current research and case studies. Discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary public health issues offers students the opportunity to apply theory to familiar examples. Each chapter contextualises key concepts with spotlights and vignettes, reflective questions, tutorial exercises and suggestions for further reading. Written by an expert team of public health professionals, Public Health is an essential resource for public health students.

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.

Strategies for Enhancing Governmental Public Health Workforce Well-being and Retention.

Racial health inequities persist despite many attempts to correct them. Inadequate comprehension of racism obscures the ordinariness of racism in public health institutions. In addition to applying critical race theory (CRT) to the research and practice of public health, we argue that the struggle for health equity must also apply CRT toward the teaching of public health students. Adhering to conventional approaches in academic public health without grappling with their roots in Whiteness reproduces a public health workforce that is insufficiently equipped to address the complex, systemic issues underlying health inequities. By default, academic public health excludes the perspectives of scholars of color, relies too heavily on theories of individual behavior, and applies top-down teaching methods. To make durable changes, the rising generation of public health scholars and practitioners must understand how health equity fits within broader struggles for racial and social justice. Thus, we critique three responsibilities for teaching about public health: assigning readings, shaping analytical lenses with theories, and modeling change through andragogy. By questioning whose knowledge is legitimized when defining public health needs, whose lenses are used to prioritize solutions, and whose insights drive change, we can train a public health workforce more critical of racism, and more prepared to deal with the enduring reality of racial relations.

Can we build on, or must we replace, the theories and models in health education?

Interprofessional education involves programs that foster the partnerships of two or more individuals studying different health professions, thus allowing students to learn with and about the other professions. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative Competencies were updated in 2016 with a threefold purpose that included a greater emphasis on population health, thereby encouraging the health professions who typically work on an individual level to broaden their understanding of the field of public health. In the professional preparation of public health professionals and health education specialists, both foundational competencies and areas of responsibility imply and/or explicitly state that public health professionals and health education specialists must be able to work with interprofessional teams. Interprofessional collaborative learning activities have been recommended to be offered early and often during health professions training. Not only do public health and health education students benefit from inclusion in these interprofessional education activities but other health professions students also benefit from exposure to public health students and population health concepts. Public health and health education have contributed to leadership in interprofessional education initiatives and are well-situated to lend population health expertise to improve health care delivery as well as population and patient health outcomes.

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.

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

Undergraduate public health education: a workforce perspective.

PART ONE: UNDERPINNING CONCEPTS - THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE Historical Development of Public Health - Nicholas Fulton Phin Modern Public Health - Fiona Adshead and Allison Thorpe Determinants of Health - Soumen Sengupta Public Health Theories - Ann Bryan Inequalities in Health - Nicola Close Sociological Concepts of Public Health - Andy Lovell Principles of Epidemiology - Hamed A Adetunji Public Health and Demography - Mzwandile (Andi) Mabhala and Walid El Ansari Population and Surveillance - Hamed A. Adetunji Public Health Law - Nicholas Fulton Phin Leadership Development for Public Health Practitioners - Frances Wilson and Kim Greening Social Marketing - Allison Thorpe, Rowena Merritt, Clive Blair-Stevens and Jeff French Economics of Health - Hamed A. Adetunji Public Health and Sustainable Development - Mzwandile A. Mabhala and Peete Lesiamo Health Literacy - Mike Horah and Mzwandile (Andi) Mabhala Public Health and the Media - Pat Clarke Local Strategies for Public Health Implementation - Graham Holroyd Ehics of Public Health - Jill McCarthy Social Exclusion and Stigma - Elizabeth Mason-Whitehead Vulnerability - Jan Hardy and Tina Barrows PART TWO: PRACTICAL CONCEPTS - FOR APPLICATION: IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE Assessing Public Health Need - Pat Rose Planning and Public Health - Janine Talley Evaluating Public Health - Elaine Hogard Health Impact Assessment - Rachel A. Wells Health Protection - Nicholas Fulton Phin Immunisation - Michelle Falconer Public Health and Health Promotion - Frances Wilson Screening - Mzwandile (Andi) Mabhala Disease Prevention - Alan Massey Public Health and the Natural Environment - Kim Greening Environmental Impact on Health Emergency and Disaster Planning - Alex G Stewart and Richard Jarvis Walid El Ansari and Pat Deeny User Involvement and Influence - Walid El Collaborative and Partnership Working - Walid El Evidence Based Practice - Gail Louw Public Health and Contemporary Health Issues - Mike Thomas Public Health and Physical Activity - Hayley Mills, Diane Crone, Walid El Public Health and Nutrition - Basma Ellahi Community Food Initiatives - Basma Ellahi Commissioning Public Health - Frances Wilson and Moyra PART THREE: POPULATIONS: APPROACHES TO PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE Public Health and Mental Health - David Coyle Adherence to treatment - a person-centred approach - Dianne Phipps and Sara Bell Public Health and the Preschool Child - Jean Mannix and John Public Health and the Schools Community - Gabrielle Rabie Public Health and Young People - Gabrielle Rabie and Irene Public Health and Adults - Sue Phillips Student Health - Walid El Ansari Public Health and the Older Person - Irene Cooke and Jean Public Health and Homelessness - Judith Lydon and Scott Public Health and the Workplace - Alan Massey