Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the competencies and training needs for public health professionals managing chronic disease prevention programs. Focus groups were conducted among representatives from 12 state health departments across the United States, and data from the interviews were analyzed. The findings support additional training to enhance specific competencies for management/leadership, epidemiology/biostatistics, chronic disease prevention/policy development, and evaluation. Commonly reported competencies were knowledge of public health and chronic diseases, communication, and diversity. The findings can be used to design future competency-based training programs to build the capacity for chronic disease programs in state and territorial health departments.
Many public health practitioners were hired originally for entry-level positions that required a specific set of skills but not necessarily a broad public health perspective. Even though half of the current public health workforce has some formal training in public health, enhancing the skills of current public health practitioners will improve the capacity of state and territorial health departments to develop and manage effective chronic disease prevention programs.1-3 Since its inception in 1988, Chronic Disease Directors (CDD), an organization composed of the chief public health executives from each state and territory, has worked to mobilize national efforts to reduce chronic diseases and the risk factors associated with these diseases. In 1996, CDD, in collaboration with the Saint Louis University School of Public Health (SLU-SPH), began a sequential process to identify gaps in staff competencies and skills. The first step was to assess training needs for current public health practitioners. Their survey identified four major areas of knowledge, including management/leadership, epidemiology/biostatistics, chronic disease prevention/policy development, and evaluation, that represented the core of any future training program. The second step was to survey current public health practitioners from state health departments to determine the competencies and skills required for each of these areas. This report summarizes the specific methods and findings of the survey using focus groups to identify the competencies and skills for each of the four areas of interest.