Objective In 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published the Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action, outlining the need for increased individual preparedness and more widespread community engagement to enhance the overall resiliency and security of communities. However, there is limited evidence of how to build a whole community approach to emergency management that provides real-world, practical examples and applications. This article reports on the strategies and best practices gleaned from seven community programs fostering a whole community approach to emergency management. Design The project team engaged in informal conversations with community stakeholders to learn about their programs during routine monitoring activities, site visits, and during an in-person, facilitated workshop. A total of 88 community members associated with the programs examples contributed. Qualitative analysis was conducted. Results The findings highlighted best practices gleaned from the seven programs that other communities can leverage to build and maintain their own whole community programs. The findings from the programs also support and validate the three principles and six strategic themes outlined by FEMA. Conclusions The findings, like the whole community document, highlight the importance of understanding the community, building relationships, empowering action, and fostering social capital to build a whole community approach.
Employing instructional strategies and behavioral theories in preparedness interventions optimizes the potential for individuals to adopt preparedness behaviors. Study findings suggest that stage movement toward household preparedness was not spurious but rather associated with the intervention. Therefore, Ready CDC was successful in moving staff along the continuous process of adopting household disaster preparedness behaviors, thus providing a model for future interventions. The TTM suggests factors such as knowledge, beliefs, and self-efficacy will differ by stage and may differentially predict progression towards behavior adoption. Thus, tailoring interventions based on an individual's stage of change optimizes the potential for individuals to adopt desired behaviors.
The “learn by doing” approach to training is common in the public health field and is a core component of service-learning programs. Trainee satisfaction, learning, and application of learning have been studied. What is less understood is the perspective the agencies that host trainees. This study aimed to identify whether and how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) adds value to the agencies that host trainees during two-year field assignments. A qualitative exploratory study design consisting of 9 semi-structured telephone interviews with PHAP host agency supervisors was used. Results suggested that PHAP increased host agencies’ capacity by assigning capable trainees to host agencies. Trainees made quality contributions that led to agency and/or community-wide improvements and positively affected the agencies’ culture. Further evaluation of the host perspective is necessary, as coupled with the trainee’s perspective, will provide a more holistic understanding of program value.
Objective The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) to establish a continuous source of public health professionals who can deliver frontline services at the federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial levels. The article describes preliminary evaluation findings for PHAP. Design The evaluation’s primary purposes are to assess the quality and effectiveness of PHAP, determine its value and impact, and provide information to continuously improve the program. Because the evaluation is both formative and summative and focuses on aggregate outputs and outcomes of PHAP, the methodology is complex and builds over time as different cohorts cycle into and out of the program. Results presented are outcomes of various Web-based surveys and reporting systems. Participants Four PHAP cohorts, consisting of 579 individuals, participated in 1 or more of the evaluation activities described in this article. Results The majority of participants report satisfaction with their PHAP experiences, and 74% of recent graduates indicate they are continuing their careers or education in public health immediately after program completion. Seventy-eight percent of recent PHAP graduates who accept a job in public health are employed by the federal government. One year post-PHAP, 74% of alumni report that PHAP has been influential in their careers. Conclusion CDC’s investment in PHAP has increased the capacity and capabilities of the public health workforce. Results presented are early indicators of program quality, effectiveness, and impact. Today’s public health workers are asked to do more with less, in the face of a dynamic array of complex public health challenges. PHAP offers public health agencies assistance in tackling these losses and challenges.
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