A Systematic Approach to Evaluating Public Health Training

Abstract

We identified practitioners' high-priority competency needs and then designed 7 annual courses to progressively address those needs and new needs as they arose. This approach resulted in trainings valued by practitioners and effective in increasing their sense of competence to lead public health obesity prevention initiatives. The course's continuing impact was evidenced by participants' high level of completion of their action plans at 6-month follow-up. Competency-based training is important to develop a skilled public health workforce.

The Relationships Between State Health Department Practitioners’ Perceptions of Organizational Supports and Evidence-Based Decision-Making Skills

“…Innovative or tailored dissemination strategies may be needed to overcome commonly cited barriers to engaging in EBDM, particularly lack of incentives, time, appropriate funding, managerial support, and staff turnover. 21,28,[41][42][43] In addition, training must be supported at the agency level, for example, by requiring continuing education of employees or providing on-site training. b Importance and availability of 13 skills were measured on an 11-point ordered scale.…”

“…Innovative or tailored dissemination strategies may be needed to overcome commonly cited barriers to engaging in EBDM, particularly lack of incentives, time, appropriate funding, managerial support, and staff turnover. 21,28,41 -43 In addition, training must be supported at the agency level, for example, by requiring continuing education of employees or providing on-site training. Strategies to improve individual skills and organizational supports for EBDM may also need to focus on enhancing the thinking of practitioners about evaluation, that is, “critical thinking applied in the context of evaluation, motivated by an attitude of inquisitiveness and a belief in the value of evidence.” 44 Such thinking about evaluation has been identified as an important component to developing the evaluative capacity of people and organizations, 44 -47 which can then be applied to EBDM processes.…”

Permanent health education in the context of obesity: a scoping review

“…We neither found documents in the grey literature nor by consulting specialists. Subsequently, 10 studies, reported in 15 publications, met our eligibility criteria [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . Figure 1 shows the reasons for excluding full articles.…”

Speeding the Dissemination and Implementation of Evidence-Based Interventions for Cancer Control and Prevention

“…Practitioners are often overwhelmed by the number of EBIs and may lack the information and guidance needed to use them in practice [19][20][21]. In response, synthesis translation systems are partnering with practitioners to translate EBIs into formats that better address practitioners' needs and priorities.…”