Building Public Health Workforce Capacity: Longer-Term Effectiveness of a Capacity Building Intervention to Improve Community-Based Public Health Prevention Work

There is an urgent need to build capacity among existing and incoming public health workers to enhance community-based work focused on prevention and health promotion. Public Health Essentials, a cohort-based facilitated asynchronous online capacity building intervention, was designed to build public health workers’ strategic skills and professional confidence. Earlier research reported on the short-term learning outcomes of the intervention; in this paper, the authors report on results from a longer-term outcomes evaluation, including skill retention, skill application, and possible indicators of workforce retention and community health improvement. A sequential mixed-methods research design was used to assess and explore longer-term outcomes among a sample of Public Health Essentials graduates working in community public health roles. Some 46% of eligible Public Health Essentials graduates (n=70) completed a skills survey at 3 time points: before Public Health Essentials completion, after Public Health Essentials completion, and 3–6 months after Public Health Essentials completion. Longitudinal analysis of responses showed statistically significant skill gains over baseline (beginner → proficient, p