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

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 51S-62S ◽  
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.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-343 ◽  
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.

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

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.

scholarly journals Environmental Health Workforce – Essential for Interdisciplinary Solutions to the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Ryan ◽  
Raymond Swienton ◽  
Curt Harris ◽  
James J. James
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mass Gatherings ◽  
Response And Recovery

ABSTRACT Interdisciplinary public health solutions are vital for an effective coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response and recovery. However, there is often a lack of awareness and understanding of the environmental health workforce connections and capabilities. In the United States, this is a foundational function of health departments and is the second largest public health workforce. The primary role is to protect the public from exposures to environmental hazards, disasters, and disease outbreaks. More specifically, this includes addressing risks relating to sanitation, drinking water, food safety, vector control, and mass gatherings. This profession is also recognized in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019. Despite this, the profession is often not considered an essential service. Rapid integration into COVID-19 activities can easily occur as most are government employees and experienced working in complex and stressful situations. This role, for example, could include working with leaders, businesses, workplaces, and churches to safely reopen, and inspections to inform, educate, and empower employers, employees, and the public on safe actions. There is now the legislative support, evidence and a window of opportunity to truly enable interdisciplinary public health solutions by mobilizing the environmental health workforce to support COVID-19 response, recovery, and resilience activities.

scholarly journals ASPHER V4 Working Group supports the road map for professionalising the public health workforce

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Petrakova ◽  
R Otok ◽  
V Prikazsky ◽  
M Dlouhy ◽  
Z Prazanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Current State ◽  
Public Health Profession

Abstract Background The ASPHER V4 Working Group (WG) was established in 2016 and officially launched during the 9th European Public Health Conference in Vienna. One of the key objectives of the WG is to strengthen public health capacity development in V4 countries. The WG supports the implementation of the recently reviewed European Action Plan for Strengthening Public Health Capacities (EAP). The EAP’s review highlighted the need to focus further action on four enabling Essential Public Health Functions (EPHOs) including human resources for public health. This is why the WG is heavily involved in the recent development of a new Road map for professionalising the public health workforce, one of the products of the recently established Coalition of Partners (CoP) that was convened by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in close cooperation with ASPHER and Maastricht University. Objectives Supporting the WHO CoP with a focus on development and further implementation of a new Road map for professionalising public health workforce in V4 countries. Using a new rapid assessment tool to evaluate the state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic. Sharing the report on the current state of public health professions in the Czech Republic with the WG and using it as a comparison of the current state in all V4 countries. Results Key strengths and weaknesses of the first rapid assessment of the current state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic are presented. Key actions are proposed for the WG: a) Preparation of a grant proposal to the International V4 Fund and b) Continuing active involvement in CoP activities. Conclusions The rapid assessment tool for evaluating the state of the public health profession was successfully implemented in the Czech Republic with the close cooperation of academia, researchers, policy makers and practitioners. The summary confirms that further work on the professionalization of the public health workforce is needed. Key messages ASPHER V4 WG is strongly involved in the development of a new road map for professionalising the public health workforce, coordinated by the WHO CoP, ASPHER and Maastricht University. Summary of the first rapid assessment of the current state of the public health profession in the Czech Republic confirms the importance of further action in this area of work.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document