Search

Effective and consistent training approaches are necessary for capacity building in the environmental public health workforce, including individuals involved in retail food regulatory work. The retail food regulatory workforce can, however, lack standardized training, promotion, and retention practices. Additionally, workforce demographics suggest a high turnover rate in the near future that will require targeted training efforts to maintain food safety standards. We analyzed data from the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Retail Food Program Training Needs Assessment to better understand workforce training needs overall and by job level. Using a 4-quadrant approach to plot the relevance of and exposure to validated retail food safety knowledge areas, we show the knowledge areas that need priority focus for workforce training. We demonstrate the importance of our approach and suggest that it can be applied to further assessment of training needs in the retail food regulatory workforce and beyond. Keywords: environmental public health, retail food, training, workforce, Introduction Training public health professionals efficiently and effectively is imperative to build a strong workforce capacity. Over the last few decades, enforcing and strengthening the public health workforce through specific [...]

Introduction In 2021, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) released a new strategic plan to guide its work over the next 10-15 years. The plan highlights four goals-access, equity, workforce capacity, and impact-that are essential to achieving MCHB's vision. Methods We present 13 recommendations to highlight opportunities for ongoing and new activities aligned with Goal 3 of the plan-'Strengthen Public Health Capacity and Workforce for MCH.' Results Recommendations 1-3 highlight the need to support pathways into state and local MCH public health (PH) positions, to offer accessible and high-quality training for the practicing workforce, and to build capacity to address health and social inequities. Recommendations 4-7 discuss the need to build a racially and ethnically diverse workforce, ensure equity and anti-racism are foundational concepts in training, and strengthen engagement of community members and those with lived experience as part of the MCH PH workforce. Recommendations 8-10 outline opportunities to enhance MCH workforce data and measurement frameworks, and support practice-based research. Recommendations 11-12 discuss the importance of academic-practice partnerships and the need to spur innovation. Recommendation 13 highlights the need to define and amplify the unique skillset of the MCH PH workforce. Conclusions The release of the MCHB strategic plan comes at a time of critical need to build and sustain a MCH PH workforce to achieve equity for MCH populations. We encourage the field to engage in dialogue around the recommendations presented in this paper, and to offer additional actions to build and support the MCH PH workforce., Author(s): Lauren Raskin Ramos [sup.1] , Michelle Menser Tissue [sup.1] , Ayanna Johnson [sup.1] , Laura Kavanagh [sup.1] , Michael Warren [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.454842.b, 0000 0004 0405 7557, [...]

Introduction Efforts to recruit and retain diverse Maternal and Child Health (MCH) professionals are of paramount public health significance. Culturally congruent mentorship strategies are key to supporting a successful transition from undergraduate to graduate studies. Methods This mixed-method study evaluated a culturally congruent mentorship training used by one of the MCH Pipeline Training programs and described mentorship practices and lessons learned from the six MCH Pipeline programs. A retrospective pre-test post-test survey assessed mentorship competency skills following a mentoring workshop. All MCH Pipeline program leaders completed a questionnaire to elicit responses about mentoring training practices, mentor evaluation strategies, and lessons learned. Results Maternal and Child Health Pipeline Training Programs supported 1890 undergraduate scholars at universities and institutions nationally. Scholars at six MCH Pipeline Programs participated in MCH education and mentored experiential leadership opportunities in clinical practice, research, and public health education. Qualitative program-level mentor survey themes indicated the importance of creating a reflective space and building mentorship teams. Mean mentor self-assessed improvement in mentor competencies was 14.4 points, 95% CI [10.5, 18.3], p < .001 following completion of a mentoring training workshop implemented by one of the MCH Pipeline programs. Discussion The Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau recognized the need to support the development of the next generation of diverse MCH leaders. Pipeline programs that included mentoring workshops and building culturally congruent mentorship teams are two strategies to increase and retain diverse scholars in graduate school and leaders in the public health workforce., Author(s): Harolyn M. E. Belcher [sup.1] [sup.2] , Nikeea Copeland-Linder [sup.1] [sup.2] , Jacqueline Stone [sup.1] [sup.2] , Catrina R. Waters [sup.3] , Alice Kuo [sup.4] , Victoria Moerchen [sup.5] [...]

Recent public health literature contains calls for collaborative public health interventions and for leaders capable of guiding them. The National Public Health Leadership Institute aims to develop collaborative leaders and to strengthen networks of leaders who share knowledge and jointly address public health problems. Evaluation results show that completing the institute training increases collaborative leadership and builds knowledge-sharing and problem-solving networks. These practices and networks strengthen interorganizational relationships, coalitions, services, programs, and policies. Intensive team-and project-based learning are key to the program's impact.