Mapping the existing literature to recently developed public health workforce research themes

In a November 2009 supplement to the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Crawford, et al, suggested eight research themes as organizing loci for the public health workforce research agenda: 1) workforce size and composition; 2) workforce diversity; 3) workforce effectiveness and health impact; 4) recruitment, retention, separation, and retirement; 5) worker pay, promotion, performance, and job satisfaction; 6) demand for the public health workforce; 7) education, training, and credentialing the public health workforce; and 8) public health workforce policy. We are conducting a comprehensive search of both peer-reviewed and grey literature in an effort to build on previous literature searches and to develop a relevant, timely, and easily updateable bibliography that will be categorized and mapped to the new public health workforce research themes. Search strategies are being developed to assist in mining effectively the literature in both article databases and grey literature repositories. Literature retrieved will be imported into reference managing software for convenience and analysis. A four person review panel comprised of two public health workforce experts, a doctoral student in public health, and an informationist who specializes in public health will review titles and abstracts extracted and map them to the research themes. This study will result in a useful, easily searchable and updatable bibliography of relevant literature that can serve as a valuable tool for public health workforce researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.