Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111483

M. Ann Ricksecker, MPH¹, Lisa M. Zimmerman, MS², Sharron Goode-Grant, MSA², Dan Johnson, MAR³, Gregory Seaney-Ariano, MPH², and Geneva Vaughan-Harris, PhD². (1) PA/Mid-Atlantic AIDS ETC, Health Federation of Philadelphia, 1211 Chestnut Street, Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215.246.5295, aricksecker@healthfederation.org, (2) AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market Street, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, (3) AACO, City of Philadelphia, 1101 Market Street, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Promoting public health core competencies is a multi-facetted national initiative that ranges from academic curriculum assessment to public health systems research. One application of the effort is supporting and improving the current public health workforce. Elements of this application can include defining competency expectations, providing training and information to further develop competencies, and assessing job performance. The program unit of a county health department embarked on a custom-designed, on-going core competency project in September 2002 which included 1) developing an agreed upon set of core competencies, 2) implementing a self-assessment instrument based on the competencies at baseline and 18 months later, and 3) responding to the initial assessment results with a rigorous schedule of staff information meetings and trainings. The results of the staff surveys included a) anonymous self-ratings and comments on performance of the competencies components, b) information concerning requested meeting topics and training, and c) results of 3 likert-scale questions, one of which asked the respondent to weigh the issue of whether their workplace supports them in performing the components. These results and additional information offered on the assessment instruments highlight the impact of the workplace climate, provide insight into its influence on a public health staff's ability to perform their duties competently, and will be presented for discussion.

Learning Objectives: