Using adaptive leadership principles to support Public Health 3.0 in multidisciplinary undergraduate education

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered public health vulnerabilities worldwide, particularly in the hard-hit USA. US public health professionals, regardless of role, may need to exercise leadership in both planned and unexpected situations. This model of practice outside of traditional roles, known as Public Health 3.0, requires adaptive leadership – a systems approach to making progress on complex challenges. Educational programs should improve students’ adaptive leadership competency to prepare them for the public health workforce. This paper aims to provide an educational framework for implementing adaptive leadership instruction for undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach This paper used experiential and traditional instructional strategies and adaptive leadership competencies to develop a semester-length leadership course for undergraduate students in health, nursing, social science, business and education. Adaptive leadership principles were learned and practiced, preparing students for systemic challenges through the lens of Public Health 3.0. Competencies were assessed pre- and post-semester. Findings Of 248 students, 72% were health professions majors. Students reported pre-post scores on 29 measures of competency, interest, learning and behavioral change. Quantitative evaluations identified statistically significant improvement in all domains. Additional quantitative feedback indicated improvement on the three Kirkpatrick levels of evaluation assessed (reaction, learning and behavior). Originality/value Tiered evaluation methods indicated that this leadership course enhanced participants’ self-reported adaptive leadership learning and competency, as well as intention and ability to translate learning into practice. A broad spectrum of competency development is needed for students entering practice in the Public Health 3.0 era, particularly related to pandemic response.

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Democracy in flux: a systemic view on the impact of COVID-19

Transforming Government People Process and Policy ◽

10.1108/tg-09-2020-0269 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Lucy J. Parry ◽

Hans Asenbaum ◽

Selen A. Ercan

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Systems Approach ◽

Content Type ◽

The Public ◽

Meaningful Participation ◽

Public Health Challenge ◽

Democratic Spaces ◽

The Impact ◽

Systemic View

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a systemic view of democracy can provide insights into the myriad ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affects democracies worldwide. This enables the authors to offer practical suggestions for strengthening democracy through meaningful participation in the spaces where deficits are most apparent. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the systems approach that has emerged from the deliberative and participatory democracy literature in recent years to map out the impacts of COVID-19. In this paper, the authors set out this approach as an agenda for future, more comprehensive research. Findings The authors’ preliminary overview suggests that democratic spaces are reconfigured during COVID-19, with participatory spaces shrinking, overlapping and invading each other. Based on the systemic overview, the authors suggest participatory interventions to address particular points of weakness such as accountability. Originality/value Taking a systemic approach to analysing COVID-19’s impacts on democracy enables the authors to understand the pressure points where democratic values and participation are under strain and where citizens’ participation is essential not only for strengthening democracy but also addressing the public health challenge of COVID-19.

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Community Partnerships and Experiential Learning: Investing in the Next Generation of a Diverse, Qualified Public Health Workforce

Pedagogy in Health Promotion ◽

10.1177/23733799211046974 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 51S-62S ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sarah R. Blenner ◽

Sarah E. Roth ◽

Rita Manukyan ◽

Yareli Escutia-Calderon ◽

Alec M. Chan-Golston ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Experiential Learning ◽

Training Program ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Community Partnerships ◽

Learning Model ◽

Public Health Workforce ◽

The Public ◽

The Impact

Annually, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Public Health Scholars Training Program (Program) exposes and engages 35 to 40 undergraduate students, Public Health Scholars, through an 8-week intensive summer training program in public health. Experiential learning through internships is an integral part of the Program, allowing scholars to gain hands-on experience in the field of public health while providing pathways to enter the public health workforce and pursue graduate education. The Program leverages existing strong community partnerships developed through the school’s applied practice experiences as well as creates new partnerships. These relationships are mutually beneficial, improve community connections, expand relationships, and develop the school’s ability to work with undergraduate students. This article outlines an adapted, evidence-based experiential learning model and develops an evaluation framework to capture the program impact. In the program evaluation, scholars and professional mentors assess the impact of the Program on scholars’ intrapersonal, interpersonal, societal, strategic professional, and foundational public health skills. Mentor and peer relationships drive the experiential learning model, supporting the Program to train undergraduate scholars, prepare graduate students to be future mentors once established in the public health workforce, and build the capacity of partner organizations to train a diverse public health workforce. The Program provides a needed opportunity to scholars, most of whom are from underrepresented or underserved backgrounds, to receive in-depth exposure and engagement with public health.

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Communities of practice to improve public health outcomes: a systematic review

Journal of Knowledge Management ◽

10.1108/jkm-03-2017-0111 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 326-343 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Liza Barbour ◽

Rebecca Armstrong ◽

Patrick Condron ◽

Claire Palermo

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Communities Of Practice ◽

Reflective Practice ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Public Health Workforce ◽

Content Type ◽

The Public ◽

Structured Problem Solving ◽

The Impact

Purpose Communities of practice (CoPs) exist to enable people to share knowledge, innovate and progress a common field of practice. This paper aims to identify whether CoPs have a measured impact on public health practice and the tools used to measure the impact and potential barriers and facilitators that may have been identified during the implementation of these CoPs. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Searches of six databases, Google Scholar and a citation search were completed. Included studies were from 1986 to 2016, involved the public health workforce and an evaluation of a CoP -like intervention. A narrative synthesis of the findings was conducted. Findings From 3,021 publications, 12 studies met inclusion criteria and described the impact of ten CoPs amongst public health practitioners from America, Canada, Australasia and the United Kingdom. CoPs support the prevention workforce to change their practice when they provide structured problem-solving, reflective practice and networking opportunities. None of the studies described the impact of CoPs on public health outcomes. Practical implications CoPs that provide structured problem-solving, reflective practice and diverse networking may effectively support the public health workforce. Existing methods used to evaluate CoPs lack rigour; thus, the true impact of CoPs on population health remains unknown. Originality/value This is the first known systematic review that has measured the impact of CoPs on the preventative health workforce and the conditions in which they have an impact.

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Evaluation of Education for Public Health: A Practical Foundation for Solidarity

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

M Perkiö ◽

R Harrison ◽

M Grivna ◽

D Tao ◽

C Evashwich

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Education ◽

Health Workforce ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Public Health Education ◽

Public Health Workforce ◽

Rigorous Evaluation ◽

The Public ◽

Public Health Professionals

Abstract Education is a key to creating solidary among the professionals who advance public health’s interdisciplinary mission. Our assumption is that if all those who work in public health shared core knowledge and the skills for interdisciplinary interaction, collaboration across disciplines, venues, and countries would be facilitated. Evaluation of education is an essential element of pedagogy to ensure quality and consistency across boundaries, as articulated by the UNESCO education standards. Our study examined the evaluation studies done by programs that educate public health professionals. We searched the peer reviewed literature published in English between 2000-2017 pertaining to the education of the public health workforce at a degree-granting level. The 2442 articles found covered ten health professions disciplines and had lead authors representing all continents. Only 86 articles focused on evaluation. The majority of the papers examined either a single course, a discipline-specific curriculum or a teaching method. No consistent methodologies could be discerned. Methods ranged from sophisticated regression analyses and trends tracked over time to descriptions of focus groups and interviews of small samples. We found that evaluations were primarily discipline-specific, lacked rigorous methodology in many instances, and that relatively few examined competencies or career expectations. The public health workforce enjoys a diversity of disciplines but must be able to come together to share diverse knowledge and skills. Evaluation is critical to achieving a workforce that is well trained in the competencies pertinent to collaboration. This study informs the pedagogical challenges that must be confronted going forward, starting with a commitment to shared core competencies and to consistent and rigorous evaluation of the education related to training public health professionals. Key messages Rigorous evaluation is not sufficiently used to enhance the quality of public health education. More frequent use of rigorous evaluation in public health education would enhance the quality of public health workforce, and enable cross-disciplinary and international collaboration for solidarity.

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