Early Evaluation Findings From a Federally Funded Training Program: The Public Health Associate Program

Abstract

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.

Assessing Participants’ Experiences in a Service-Learning Program: A Psychometric Evaluation

“…Participants, referred to as associates, adhere to the CDC-established PHAP curriculum by participating in trainings about public health concepts, such as program planning and evaluation. Associates work alongside public health professionals in state, tribal, local, territorial, and nongovernmental health agencies to receive on-the-job training and enhance professional skills; these agencies are referred to as host sites (Sobelson et al, 2016). Additionally, associates are assigned a CDC mentor to help guide them during their time in PHAP.…”

“…Service learning is a pedagogic approach that uses a combination of instructional coursework, hands-on learning experiences in community settings, and professional mentorship (Cashman & Seifer, 2008;Furco, 1996;Rosing, Reed, Ferrari, & Bothne, 2010;Sobelson, Young, Wigington, & Duncan, 2016;Wigington, Sobelson, Duncan, & Young, 2017). The reciprocal relationship between participants and the organizations hosting them distinguishes service learning from other types of training programs (Furco, 1996;Rosing et al, 2010).…”

“…Given the utility and growing popularity of service-learning programs, it has become important to systematically evaluate them. These types of programs benefit from evaluation because findings can guide program improvement efforts, demonstrate effectiveness, and aid in decisionmaking (Holland, 2001;Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006;Potter, Barron, & Cioffi, 2003;Sobelson et al, 2016;Wigington et al, 2017). However, evaluation of these types of programs is challenging because of their complex design; by nature, service-learning programs include diverse, onthe-job learning components, including professional development and mentorship.…”

“…In addition, trainees may be dispersed among various communities, and programs may last months or years (Cashman & Seifer, 2008;Cashman, Seifer, & Unversagt, 2003;Dick et al, 2014;Duncan & Auerbach, In Press;Furco, 1996;Goldberg & Coufal, 2009;Johansson et al, 2014;Kenworthy-U'Ren, Petri, & Taylor, 2006;Rosing et al, 2010;Wigington et al, 2017). Despite these challenges, evaluation remains essential (Johansson et al, 2014;Medina et al, 2015;Potter et al, 2003;Sobelson et al, 2016).…”

Developing population health scientists: Findings from an evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program

“…More recent studies include several evaluating the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (Faupel-Badger et al, 2015, Faupel-Badger et al, 2017), including one study with a strong comparison group and methods (Faupel-Badger et al, 2015). A few recent studies evaluate the outcomes of other public health training programs but lack comparison groups (Sobelson et al, 2017, Baldwin et al, 2017, Mancuso et al, 2017).…”