Local collaboration is key to effective evidence-based public health training, study finds

Collaborating with public health departments and other agencies to deliver training in evidence-based public health can offset the effects of high staff turnover, strengthen academic-practice relationships, and promote population-wide health and health equity, found a new study led by Stephanie Mazzucca-Ragan, assistant professor at the Brown School.

The work is published in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice.

Training in evidence-based public health (EBPH) has been available since 1997, but challenging due to recent high turnover in public-health agencies, in which few staff hold a public health degree. Mazzucca-Ragan and a team at the Prevention Research Center (PRC) tested the effectiveness of training collaboratively among other PRCs, local and state health departments, and Public Health Training Centers, at four U.S. sites.

They then surveyed 241 course participants to self-rate their skills, and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 individuals from partnering organizations. They found statistically significant increases in skills to use evidence-based processes, with the largest in understanding economic evaluation to inform decision-making; and developing an action plan. Course effectiveness was bolstered by having a shared goal of workforce development, existing course curricula, and dedicated funding for the course.

“Ongoing workforce development is critical to ensuring that staff have the skills to conduct sound public health practice,” Mazzucca-Ragan shared. “This model leverages the complementary expertise and resources of public health departments, public health training centers, and academic research centers to efficiently and effectively deliver EBPH training. Also, the public health network built through these partnerships can support other initiatives, such as programs implemented by public health departments and practice-based research.”