Identifying core competencies for practicing public health professionals: results from a Delphi exercise in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Background Ensuring the current public health workforce has appropriate competencies to fulfill essential public health functions is challenging in many low- and middle-income countries. The absence of an agreed set of core competencies to provide a basis for developing and assessing knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes contributes to this challenge. This study aims to identify the requisite core competencies for practicing health professionals in mid-level supervisory and program management roles to effectively perform their public health responsibilities in the resource-poor setting of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Methods We used a multi-step, interactive Delphi technique to develop an agreed set of public health competencies. A narrative review of core competency frameworks and key informant interviews with human resources for health experts in India were conducted to prepare an initial list of 40 competency statements in eight domains. We then organized a day-long workshop with 22 Indian public health experts and government officials, who added to and modified the initial list. A revised list of 54 competency statements was rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Aggregate statement scores were shared with the participants, who discussed the findings. Finally, the revised list was returned to participants for an additional round of ratings. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test was used to identify stability between steps, and consensus was defined using the percent agreement criterion. Results Stability between the first and second Delphi scoring steps was reached in 46 of the 54 statements. By the end of the second Delphi scoring step, consensus was reached on 48 competency statements across eight domains: public health sciences, assessment and analysis, policy and program management, financial management and budgeting, partnerships and collaboration, social and cultural determinants, communication, and leadership. Conclusions This study produced a consensus set of core competencies and domains in public health that can be used to assess competencies of public health professionals and revise or develop new training programs to address desired competencies. Findings can also be used to support workforce development by informing competency-based job descriptions for recruitment and performance management in the Indian context, and potentially can be adapted for use in resource-poor settings globally.

Assessing Self-Reported Core Competencies of Public Health Practitioners in Lebanon Using the WHO-ASPHER Validated Scale: A Pilot Study

“…The online survey tool was in English and included closed-ended questions. It was inspired by published articles and reports [14,19,25] and adapted by the authors (of whom three are public health experts) to t the Lebanese context of the public health practice. Some items were clari ed by adding the geographical location "in Lebanon", while others were removed or adapted to the Lebanese practice.…”

“…Public health tackles all socio-economic, political, physical, chemical, and biological conditions that impact or interact with the population health [9]. A high-performing public health system requires a competent public health workforce with adequate baseline capacity and transferrable skills to be held professionally accountable for the health of a de ned population [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Therefore, a lack of workforce competence contributes to substandard service delivery [15] and leads to social, economic, and health burdens [14][15][16].…”

“…A high-performing public health system requires a competent public health workforce with adequate baseline capacity and transferrable skills to be held professionally accountable for the health of a de ned population [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Therefore, a lack of workforce competence contributes to substandard service delivery [15] and leads to social, economic, and health burdens [14][15][16]. Alternatively, strengthening the performance and core competencies contribute to nations' sustainable development [14,17].…”

“…Therefore, a lack of workforce competence contributes to substandard service delivery [15] and leads to social, economic, and health burdens [14][15][16]. Alternatively, strengthening the performance and core competencies contribute to nations' sustainable development [14,17].…”

Development of a professional competency framework for Australian sonographers—perspectives for developing competencies using a Delphi methodology

“…A lack of conceptual and practical guidelines or methods for developing competency frameworks leaves framework developers and users grappling with how to interpret the suitability and utility of different options [ 9 ]. The Delphi methodology is one way to build competency standards, utilizing anonymous sequential questionnaires to achieve a consensus amongst ‘experts’ [ 10 , 11 ].…”