Postgraduate Employment Outcomes of Undergraduate and Graduate Public Health Students

Abstract

Objectives A key goal of schools and programs of public health is to prepare graduates for careers in the public health workforce after graduation, but are they achieving this goal? We assessed how the employment outcomes of students earning public health degrees are collected and described in the literature. Methods Using the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation as a framework, we conducted a 6-step scoping review: (1) formulating the research question, (2) identifying relevant studies, (3) selecting studies, (4) charting the data, (5) collating and summarizing the results, and (6) consulting stakeholders. We included articles published from January 1, 1993, through July 4, 2020, that provided data on employment status, employment sector/industry, job function, or salary of public health graduates. We excluded articles that were not written in English and were about dual-degree (ie, doctor of medicine–master of public health) students. We found and reviewed 630 articles. Results We found 33 relevant articles. Most articles focused on a single school and combined multiple graduating classes, focused on subspecializations of public health, or focused on graduates’ satisfaction with their curriculum but not employment outcomes. Data were inconsistently categorized, and studies were difficult to compare. Conclusions Research on public health graduates’ employment outcomes is scarce and does not follow consistent protocols. New standards should be adopted to systematize the collection of data on employment outcomes of public health graduates.

Making Strides in Doctoral-Level Career Outcomes Reporting: Surveying the Landscape of Classification and Visualization Methodologies and Creating a Crosswalk Tool

“…The ASPPH data collection effort was initiated in response to broader needs for data on the public health workforce as well as the outcomes of public health graduates at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral (PhD and DrPH) levels, which were not systematically or consistently captured in the past 20 . The taxonomy was originally designed in 2014 as a pilot project (https://s3.amazonaws.com/aspph-wp-production/app/uploads/2015/07/ASPPH_Graduate_Employment_Pilot_Project_Report_May2015.pdf) to increase enrollment in public health degree programs.…”

Public Health Reports in 2021: Impact Factor Increase and New Article Collections on Racism and COVID-19

“…These articles included a commentary, discussed widely on social media, proposing ways out of a funding paradox where government tasks its public health agencies with eliminating health inequities perpetuated by its own policies and practices 32 ; a commentary by the 20th US Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, on the importance of increasing public health efforts to prevent suicide, including among US veterans 33 ; and a scoping review assessing ways in which employment outcomes of US students earning public health degrees are collected and described in the literature. 34 In 2021, PHR articles were downloaded 703 866 times, a 68.2% increase from 2020. The 3 most downloaded articles from volume 136 included the aforementioned article on COVID-19 social distancing policies 21 (8965 views and downloads); a commentary arguing that social determinants of health underlying African Americans' worse health outcomes, including for COVID-19, are rooted in systemic racism (7529 downloads as of February 3, 2022) 35 ; and an overview of mental health providers' role and challenges during COVID-19 (2984 downloads as of February 3, 2022).…”

What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates

“…Encouragingly, of those employed in the public sector, 71% found employment in less than 3 months (data were not available for those outside of the public sector). Indeed, the heterogeneity of occupational outcomes are likely related to the country of investigation [ 13 ], but currently, evidence often focuses on cohorts from individual universities, and graduates from MPH degrees.…”