Continuing Educational Needs of the APHA Membership

In order to obtain data concerning the educational needs of the APHA membership, individuals in all 28 Sections and six SPIGS were surveyed by e-mail and Zoomerang. Out of 22,048 members surveyed, there were 5,057 responses; a response rate of 22.9%. The leading educational credential of those responding was an MPH (n=2,367). The leading workplace setting was a School or Program of Public Health (n=1,034). There was a U-shaped distribution of years of membership in APHA, with 46.9% indicating membership of 1-3 years and 19.9% indicating membership of 16 or more years. Although 53.6% (n=2,707) indicated that they had attended the APHA annual meeting in the past five years, only 5.6% (n=285) had attended a Learning Institute. Overall, 75.9% (n=3,836) indicated an interest in obtaining additional public health training. Among the MPH core courses, Epidemiology had the most positive responses (n=1,122), whereas among all the potential areas mentioned, Epidemiology ranked fifth. Overall the top five areas mentioned for continuing education were Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills (n=1,792), Policy Development and Program Planning (n=1,664), Health Disparities (n=1,269), Program Evaluation (n=1,204), and Epidemiology. When Epidemiology section members were excluded, the relative ranking dropped from fifth to seventh. The vast majority of participants preferred to receive their educational materials on-line regardless of age grouping or years of membership. The sample was more representative of place of employment and less representative of gender. Recommendations are made for improvements in the survey and for updating APHA's records.