Session
Recruit and Retain a Diverse and Culturally Responsive Workforce: Part 2
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Abstract
The New York State Public Health Corps Fellowship Program: From Planning to Practice
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Government public health has been under-resourced, as experienced amidst COVID-19. In response, health departments innovated; New York State envisioned a Public Health Corps (NYSPHC). The innovative workforce development model, launched in 2021, recruits New Yorkers (Fellows) from their communities, and provides just-in-time training and capacity building to support success. Program goals include (1) equipping Fellows to work with/for local health departments (LHDs) to address COVID-19 and public health needs, and (2) developing a pipeline of skilled New Yorkers to enter the public health workforce. Through 2021, the NYSPHC engaged LHDs to develop shared understanding and buy-in, establish funding agreements, and identify mentors.
The NYSPHC Program funds and supports 1,000 Fellow positions in 57 counties for a 1-2 year period. Fellows with diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply, particularly those with passion to serve their communities and learn. All Fellows are enrolled in mandatory hands-on capacity building trainings related to public health's core functions and essential services, cultural responsiveness, community collaboration, and resilience-building (80 hours over 14-weeks via Cornell’s Public Health Essentials (PHE)), and receive year-long mentorship from Program and LHD staff to build foundational public health skills and strong connections.
To launch the program, the NYSPHC invested in inclusive marketing and recruitment strategies with schools and communities, ensuring a diverse pool of applicant Fellows, as measured by education, experience, skills, interests, and demographics. Fellow applications have been robust, and the NYSPHC actively works with LHDs to match applicants, by geography (serving one’s community), and by skills (to meet county needs). Fellows are active in PHE, and report statistically significant gains in abilities.
Since late 2021, new Fellows have been hired by counties each week, and the Program is active in all state regions filling needs related to addressing COVID-19, including vaccination, epidemiology, contact tracing, and community health education, as well as other areas impacted during the pandemic. Progressive evaluation will elucidate program impacts, both for community health and workforce replenishment and diversification.
Innovation and collaboration of state, academic, and local public health partners are building a pipeline of public health professionals to advance health equity in NYS.
Abstract
Framing the Future: Education for Public Health 2030, an ASPPH Initiative
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
With a vision to create “equitable, quality education in public health for achieving health equity and well-being for everyone, everywhere ASPPH launched the Framing the Future: Education for Public Health 2030 (FTF 2030) initiative in 2020.
To achieve this vision, FTF 2030 has convened three expert panels:
1. Inclusive excellence through an anti-racism lens
2. Transformative educational models and pedagogy
3. Expanding the reach, visibility, and impact of the field of academic public health.
Collectively, the forty-seven panel members represent academic and practice constituents across multiple sectors, including higher education, government, industry, clinical care, and community-based organizations. Each panel formally launched in 2021 and has been gathering and synthesizing evidence to recommend concrete strategies and interventions for a resilient educational system for public health. FTF 2030 aims for teaching, learning, and collaborations in public health that promotes scientific inquiry and connects research, education, and practice to prepare diverse and culturally responsive graduates who are readily distinguishable for their skills, perspectives, and values.
This initiative seeks to ground academic public health in the preparation of diverse and culturally responsive graduates who demonstrate skills, knowledge, and professionalism to effectively translate science, to think critically, to work effectively across sectors, and to eliminate inequities. Important drivers include the pandemic that challenged academic public health with the abrupt shift to remote teaching and learning, the worsening racial health disparities, the growing distrust of public health science and policies from various communities, the proliferation of disinformation, and the explicit calls for institutional transformation across multiple academic and practice fronts. In exploring these issues, the three expert panels are bringing to bear current and anticipated challenges and drawing from successful exemplars. Recommendations forthcoming from the panels will address needed changes in university systems and structures to facilitate inclusive environments for faculty, staff, and students to advance public health innovations for health equity and well-being for everyone, everywhere.
This session will provide updates on the activities of each expert panel and invite attendees to collaborate in a white board exercise to share their experiences in academic public health to inform strategies for a future academic public health system that addresses the health needs, assets, and well-being of all constituents. Findings from this town hall-style session are expected to help inform the FTF 2030 expert panels' deliberations and work going forward.
Abstract
Exploring a new approach of evaluation training in public health for MPH schools and programs
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
Program evaluation is an essential function for public health professionals—necessary to acquire funding for public health programs and support evidenced-based practice. The recognition of evaluation as a critical function of public health practice has resulted in the formation and integration of educational competencies regarding evaluation in public health curricula and certification exams (Health Education Credentialing, 2016). Despite the importance of evaluation in the public health field, previous research suggests that the coverage of evaluation principles and methodology within the Master of Public Health (MPH) curriculum is inconsistent and may not adequately prepare students to conduct evaluation activities for post-graduation.
An exploratory mixed-methods study was conducted in three phases to better understand how to best cover program evaluation within the MPH curriculum. In the first phase, the findings of a qualitative content analysis of the MPH curriculum were integrated with results from expert interviews conducted with instructors. These findings informed Phase 2— the development of an online training course. The online course, Program Evaluation for Public Health, covers relevant program evaluation topics in five self-paced modules. In the third phase, a quasi-experimental design was used to measure the effectiveness of the new training to improve the participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy to conduct various evaluation skills.
Results of the qualitative analysis identified several challenges to integrating program evaluation topics into the MPH curriculum. They also identify best practices, including consistent coverage of evaluation within curriculum, use of practical examples, differentiating program evaluation from social science research and emphasize how evaluation can help to move public health goals forward. The online course was developed to cover critical evaluation topics while utilizing best practices and addressing the common challenges. Post-survey results indicated increased knowledge and positive attitude towards program evaluation, and higher self-efficacy in conducting program evaluation after taking the course. These results suggest that the newly developed course may be an effective approach for training public health professionals about program evaluation.
Results provide a basis for revising the way program evaluation is taught and provide practical recommendations for the integration of program evaluation competencies within public health curricula.
Abstract
Essential to Our Future: The Case for Investing in New York State’s Local Public Health Workforce
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
For the last decade, the governmental public health workforce has faced many challenges related to staffing shortages that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess this critical issue, the Region 2 Public Health Training Center (R2PHTC) collaborated with the New York State Association of County Health Officials (NYSACHO), a long-time practice partner on the training and technical assistance needs of public health workers, to enumerate the city and county public health workforce in New York State. The goals of this study were to 1) enumerate New York’s local public health workforce, 2) assess how the workforce has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and 3) to identify challenges related to recruitment and retention of qualified public health workers into local health departments. Findings of this enumeration illustrate that despite their central role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no change in the number of full-time equivalent staff in local health departments since 2019, but rather health departments across the state saw a large increase in vacant positions. Specific recruitment challenges include noncompetitive salaries, difficulties finding qualified candidates, and lengthy hiring practices. This presentation will discuss new and innovative methods for attracting candidates to local health departments based on research on labor market competition for public health graduates from large-scale job postings analysis, reviews of recruitment best practices, and key informant interviews with recruitment marketing experts.2 Promoting public service, benefits, and other positive aspects of government employment, and benchmarking with competitor industries, such as pharmaceutical firms, insurance companies, and hospitals, provide a path forward for health departments seeking to replenish their workforce. These findings, made possible through collaboration between R2PHTC and NYSACHO, underscore the need for policies that address the causes of public health workforce shortages, and the benefits of partnerships between practice and academia. These types of partnerships can help to ensure that recent public health graduates are entering into the governmental public health workforce.