Analysis of CEPH-accredited DrPH programs in the United States: A mixed-methods study.
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SUBMITTER: Park C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7861440 | biostudies-literature | 2021
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Analysis of CEPH-accredited DrPH programs in the United States: A mixed-methods study.
Park Chulwoo C Migliaccio Gene G Edberg Mark M Frehywot Seble S Johnson Geralyn G
PloS one 20210204 2
Interest has been growing in regard to increasing the public health workforce and standardizing training to ensure there are competent professionals to support rebuilding and reinforcing the public health infrastructure of the United States. The need for public health leaders was recognized as early as the hookworm control campaign during 1909-1914 when it became apparent that prevention of disease should be distinct from clinical medicine and should be conducted by professionally trained, dedic ...[more]
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Project description:Undergraduate programs in public health are becoming increasingly popular in the United States (US). The recent pandemic, growing climate instability, and the aging baby boomers have led to higher demands for skilled public health professionals at various levels of the workforce. This study examines the nature of courses being delivered in undergraduate public health programs across the United States. The goal is to assess domains, themes, competencies, and other specialized skills that are currently covered in these academic programs. A search was conducted in February 2023 using the online CEPH program database to identify undergraduate public health programs in the US. In total, 86 institutions and 90 CEPH-accredited undergraduate public health programs were identified. Lists of public health courses were retrieved from each program, and a total of 2,259 unduplicated courses were extracted and analyzed. A content analysis of the extracted topics was conducted to generate 38 common themes among the courses offered. Coded course themes were mapped to the public health domains and competencies listed by the ASPPH and CEPH to evaluate the distribution of themes across course offerings. Analysis of course themes found that Foundations of Public Health, Epidemiology, Public Health Management, Policy, and Leadership, Climate and Environmental Health, and Global Health Issues were the most prevalent. When course themes were mapped onto the ASPPH and CEPH domains of critical public health learning, "overview of public health" and "determinants of health" were the most populated domains. Programs had different emphases according to their approach, but overall, about two-thirds of course themes were focused on foundational and theoretical concepts of public health, and one-third were directed toward practical applications of public health concepts. As the demand for skilled public health workers continues to rise, programs will need to watch the skills and competencies required in the current working environment, as well as the ASPPH and CEPH criteria, and adjust their approach accordingly. Given the rapid changes in the public health landscape, schools and programs of public health should evaluate their curricula to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the workforce and the world.
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Project description:Up to 50% of cancer patients and up to 90% of those in terminal stages experience pain associated with disease progression, poor quality of life, and social impact on caregivers. This study aimed to establish standards for the accreditation of oncological pain management in healthcare organizations. A mixed methods approach was used. First, a pragmatic literature review was conducted. Second, consensus between professionals and patients was reached using the Nominal Group and Delphi technique in a step that involved anesthesiologists, oncologists, family physicians, nurses, psychologists, patient representatives, and caregivers. Third, eight hospitals participated in a pilot assessment of the level of fulfillment of each standard. A total of 37 standards were extracted. The Nominal Group produced additional standards, of which 60 were included in Questionnaire 0 that was used in the Delphi Technique. Two Delphi voting rounds were performed to reach a high level of consensus, and involved 64 and 62 participants with response rates of 90% and 87%, respectively. Finally, 39 standards for the management of cancer pain were agreed upon. In the self-evaluation, the average range of compliance was between 56.4% and 100%. The consensus standards of the ACDON Project might improve the monitoring of cancer pain management. These standards satisfied the demands of professionals and patients and could be used for the accreditation of approaches in cancer pain management.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Substance use by youth remains a significant public health concern. Social media provides the opportunity to discuss and display substance use-related beliefs and behaviors, suggesting that the act of posting drug-related content, or viewing posted content, may influence substance use in youth. This aligns with empirically supported theories, which posit that behavior is influenced by perceptions of normative behavior. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the content of posts by youth related to substance use. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to identify the beliefs and behaviors of youth related to substance use by characterizing the content of youths' drug-related tweets. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, we sampled drug-relevant tweets and qualitatively examined their content. METHODS:We used natural language processing to determine the frequency of drug-related words in public tweets (from 2011 to 2015) among youth Twitter users geolocated to Pennsylvania. We limited our sample by age (13-24 years), yielding approximately 23 million tweets from 20,112 users. We developed a list of drug-related keywords and phrases and selected a random sample of tweets with the most commonly used keywords to identify themes (n=249). RESULTS:We identified two broad classes of emergent themes: functional themes and relational themes. Functional themes included posts that explicated a function of drugs in one's life, with subthemes indicative of pride, longing, coping, and reminiscing as they relate to drug use and effects. Relational themes emphasized a relational nature of substance use, capturing substance use as a part of social relationships, with subthemes indicative of drug-related identity and companionship. We also identified topical areas in tweets related to drug use, including reference to polysubstance use, pop culture, and antidrug content. Across the tweets, the themes of pride (63/249, 25.3%) and longing (39/249, 15.7%) were the most popular. Most tweets that expressed pride (46/63, 73%) were explicitly related to marijuana. Nearly half of the tweets on coping (17/36, 47%) were related to prescription drugs. Very few of the tweets contained antidrug content (9/249, 3.6%). CONCLUSIONS:Data integration indicates that drugs are typically discussed in a positive manner, with content largely reflective of functional and relational patterns of use. The dissemination of this information, coupled with the relative absence of antidrug content, may influence youth such that they perceive drug use as normative and justified. Strategies to address the underlying causes of drug use (eg, coping with stressors) and engage antidrug messaging on social media may reduce normative perceptions and associated behaviors among youth. The findings of this study warrant research to further examine the effects of this content on beliefs and behaviors and to identify ways to leverage social media to decrease substance use in this population.
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Project description:ObjectiveTo assess the current state of graduate-level disaster-related curricula (i.e., Masters and Doctoral programs, degree concentrations, and graduate certificates) offered by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited public health schools and programs in the US.MethodsThis research reviewed, evaluated, and summarized the content of websites of all US-based CEPH-accredited schools and programs to identify disaster-related degree programs, degree concentrations and graduate certificates from April - June 2021.ResultsOf 191 schools and programs reviewed, 29 (15%) offered disaster-related curricula, totaling 44 degrees and programs. Programs included Masters-level degrees and Masters/ Doctoral degree concentrations, with the majority taking the form of graduate certificates (64%). Schools that offered disaster-related curricula were clustered in eastern and Gulf states.ConclusionMost US CEPH-accredited schools and programs do not offer graduate-level disaster-focused curricula. Of the programs offered, far fewer opportunities exist for in-depth graduate-degree level training compared to certificate-level training. Additionally, programs are constrained to certain areas of the country. Our findings suggest a need for disaster and public health emergency-related curricula development within schools and programs of public health to meet the growing needs of communities affected by disasters and emergencies.
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Project description:BackgroundPatient safety research has lagged within academic settings, including chiropractic teaching institutions. To develop a robust patient safety culture, the Institute of Medicine emphasized the need for employee's attitudes to be understanding and positive. To initiate the assessment of the current culture and future needs, this study evaluated patient safety attitudes among chiropractic teaching clinic stakeholders (supervising clinicians, student interns, and administrative staff) and compared their standardized survey scores to established medical survey databases.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional, mixed methods survey design with quantitative analytic priority. Chiropractic interns, clinical faculty, and clinic staff of 5 international chiropractic educational programs completed a modified version of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Culture for Medical Offices Survey with open-ended comment fields between 2014 and 2016. Composite means of positive responses were calculated and compared to patient safety, quality of care, and overall self-ratings benchmarks from Canadian providers and academic settings in the AHRQ database. Qualitative responses were thematically categorized for a convergent analysis of quantitative results for the chiropractic sample.ResultsChiropractic survey response rate was 45.3% (n = 645). Quantitative survey results indicated moderate scores and ranges (57-85%) on all patient safety dimensions for the chiropractic samples. Academic medicine and chiropractic providers' benchmarks scored higher positive responses than chiropractic teaching clinics on most quantitative dimensions, except for work pressure/pace. Teamwork, organizational learning, and patient tracking/follow-up were the most positively endorsed quantitative dimensions, with communication, staff training, office standardization, and leadership support considered areas for improvement in both settings. Qualitative responses for the chiropractic clinics identified a need for open communication; additional staff training and student involvement in creating safety cultures; standardization of office processes including information exchange, scheduling, and equipment maintenance; and leadership support that focused on decreasing work pressure/pace and setting safety priorities.ConclusionAs the first report of patient safety attitudes from stakeholders in chiropractic teaching clinics, specific areas of improvement were identified. Chiropractic teaching programs might consider incorporating these and related patient safety concepts into their formal curricula. Mixed methods approach offers teaching clinics opportunities to assess stakeholders' insights and enhance safe delivery of chiropractic care.
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Project description:Purpose: There is a paucity of data regarding transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people who "detransition," or go back to living as their sex assigned at birth. This study examined reasons for past detransition among TGD people in the United States. Methods: A secondary analysis was performed on data from the U.S. Transgender Survey, a cross-sectional nonprobability survey of 27,715 TGD adults in the United States. Participants were asked if they had ever detransitioned and to report driving factors, through multiple-choice options and free-text responses. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze the data, creating qualitative codes for free-text responses and applying summative content analysis. Results: A total of 17,151 (61.9%) participants reported that they had ever pursued gender affirmation, broadly defined. Of these, 2242 (13.1%) reported a history of detransition. Of those who had detransitioned, 82.5% reported at least one external driving factor. Frequently endorsed external factors included pressure from family and societal stigma. History of detransition was associated with male sex assigned at birth, nonbinary gender identity, bisexual sexual orientation, and having a family unsupportive of one's gender identity. A total of 15.9% of respondents reported at least one internal driving factor, including fluctuations in or uncertainty regarding gender identity. Conclusion: Among TGD adults with a reported history of detransition, the vast majority reported that their detransition was driven by external pressures. Clinicians should be aware of these external pressures, how they may be modified, and the possibility that patients may once again seek gender affirmation in the future.
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Project description:To best understand the possible negative health and social consequences associated with racial microaggression, in-depth understanding of how people judge these events is needed. People of Color (POC) and White participants (N = 64) were recruited for a mixed-methods study that incorporated quantitative attitude ratings and focus group interviews. Participants read and discussed their attitudes toward five vignettes that reflected microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation scenarios. Semantic differential ratings showed that participants judged microassaults to be most unacceptable, followed by microinsults and then microinvalidations. Using a grounded theory approach, our qualitative analysis of interview data revealed five thematic categories. First, participants judged receivers' psychological harm to be a critical consideration for their attitudes toward microaggression scenarios; they discussed factors associated with individual differences in appraisals, prior exposures to discrimination, and sensitivity to race. Second, participants were less consistent in their opinion about the role of the deliverers' intent on their judgment of microaggressions; many considered microaggression events to be results of deliverers' cultural ignorance and racial insensitivity. Third, our analysis revealed the central importance of contexts that shaped participants' attitudes toward microaggression. Fourth, participants also discussed the notion that receivers of microaggression were racist for calling attention to race issues. Finally, POC participants tended to relate to the vignettes and use their lived experiences to contextualize their opinions about racial microaggression. The current results raise concerns regarding the conceptualization and utility of the word "microaggression," especially within the broader contexts of racism and major discrimination. Other empirical and practical implications are discussed.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Media reporting on communicable diseases has been demonstrated to affect the perception of the public. Communicable disease reporting related to foreign-born persons has not yet been evaluated. OBJECTIVE:Examine how political leaning in the media affects reporting on tuberculosis (TB) in foreign-born persons. METHODS:HealthMap, a digital surveillance platform that aggregates news sources on global infectious diseases, was used. Data was queried for media reports from the U.S. between 2011-2019, containing the term "TB" or "tuberculosis" and "foreign born", "refugee (s)," or "im (migrants)." Reports were reviewed to exclude duplicates and non-human cases. Each media source was rated using two independent media bias indicators to assess political leaning. Forty-six non-tuberculosis reports were randomly sampled and evaluated as a control. Two independent reviewers performed sentiment analysis on each report. RESULTS:Of 891 TB-associated reports in the US, 46 referenced foreign-born individuals, and were included in this analysis. 60.9% (28) of reports were published in right-leaning news media and 6.5% (3) of reports in left-leaning media, while 39.1% (18) of the control group reports were published in left- leaning media and 10.9% (5) in right-leaning media (p < .001). 43% (20) of all study reports were posted in 2016. Sentiment analysis revealed that right-leaning reports often portrayed foreign-born persons negatively. CONCLUSION:Preliminary data from this pilot suggest that political leaning may affect reporting on TB in US foreign-born populations. Right-leaning news organizations produced the most reports on TB, and the majority of these reports portrayed foreign-born persons negatively. In addition, the control group comprised of non-TB, non-foreign born reports on communicable diseases featured a higher percentage of left-leaning news outlets, suggesting that reporting on TB in foreign-born individuals may be of greater interest to right-leaning outlets. Further investigation both in the U.S. and globally is needed.
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