The principal objective of this proposal is to determine how the size and composition of the state and local public health workforce varies over time by state and community types. This study will use workforce data from multiple sources, including the NACCHO National Profile of Local Health Departments (2008-2013), and the ASTHO Profile of State Public Health (2007-2012). These data will be supplemented with data from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Epidemiology Capacity Assessment (2006-2013), the National Laboratory Capacity Assessment (2011) and the National Public Health Nurse Workforce Survey (2012). The research methodology will be a secondary data analysis that will allow the development of a profile of the workforce by occupational categories. Trends of aggregated workforce characteristics by states, or regions of states, and types of communities, such as rural or urban, will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition, modeling will be used on the longitudinal data to attempt to predict future workforce trends. These results should enable public health officials and policy makers to get a sense of how the distribution of their workforce has changed over time and how it compares to the workforce composition in states with similar characteristics, which could lead to better information about staffing patterns in state and local health departments nationwide.
Researcher
Mentor
Matthew Boulton, M.D., M.P.H.
University of Michigan
School of Public Health
Domain
Workforce
Presentations
A Profile of the Public Health Nurse Workforce
Co-Investigators: Matthew L. Boulton, M.D., M.P.H.
Presented at the 2013 PHSSR Keeneland Conference in Session 4B
Publications
Beck, A. J., Sarigiannis, A. N., Thomas, D., Montgomery, J. P., & Boulton, M. L. (2013).
Promoting practice in public health academia: assessing impact on student education.
J Public Health Manag Pract, 19(3), 205-212.
Beck, A. J., Boulton, M. L., Lemmings, J., & Clayton, J. L. (2012).
Challenges to recruitment and retention of the state health department epidemiology workforce.
Am J Prev Med, 42(1), 76-80.
Beck, A. J., & Boulton, M. L. (2012).
Building an effective workforce: a systematic review of public health workforce literature.
Am J Prev Med, 42(5 Suppl 1), S6-16.
Boulton, M. L., Hadler, J., Beck, A. J., Ferland, L., & Lichtveld, M. (2011).
Assessment of epidemiology capacity in state health departments, 2004-2009.
Public Health Rep, 126(1), 84-93.
Montgomery, J. P., Durbeck, H., Thomas, D., Beck, A. J., Sarigiannis, A. N., & Boulton, M. L. (2010).
Mapping student response team activities to public health competencies: are we adequately preparing the next generation of public health practitioners?
Public Health Rep, 125 Suppl 5, 78-86.
Montgomery, J. P., Beck, A. J., Rothney, E. E., & Boulton, M. L. (2009).
From Survey to Assessment: Characterizing Michigan's Public Health Workforce.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep.
Boulton, M. L., Lemmings, J., & Beck, A. J. (2009).
Assessment of epidemiology capacity in state health departments, 2001-2006.
J Public Health Manag Pract, 15(4), 328-336.
Boulton, M. L., Montgomery, J. P., & Beck, A. (2008).
Epidemiology competencies and preventive medicine residencies: do they mix and map?
Public Health Rep, 123 Suppl 1, 136-148.
Funding
2013 PHSSR Junior Investigator Award