Profile of Public Health Nutrition Personnel

Haughton, Betsy; Story, Mary; Keir, Barbara

doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(98)00151-5

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Just prior to the audit, Australian advanced level public health nutritionists were estimated as a specialist workforce capacity at 20 % of that required [14], estimating that WA needed to increase to 265FTE. The only other published figures from the United States (US) planning models for workforce enumeration for government funded programs set the US ratio of 1FTE public health nutritionist to 133 000 head of population in the 90s [34, 35]. Updated in 2000 by the US Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors to 1FTE for every 50 000 head of population in consideration of the complexity of addressing obesity and nutrition of vulnerable population groups [36, 37].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workforce capacity to address obesity: a Western Australian cross-sectional study identifies the gap between health priority and human resources needed

Begley

Pollard

2016

BMC Public Health

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BackgroundThe disease burden due to poor nutrition, physical inactivity and obesity is high and increasing. An adequately sized and skilled workforce is required to respond to this issue. This study describes the public health nutrition and physical activity (NAPA) practice priorities and explores health managers and practitioner’s beliefs regarding workforce capacity to deliver on these priorities.MethodsA workforce audit was conducted including a telephone survey of all managers and a postal survey of practitioners working in the area of NAPA promotion in Western Australia in 2004. Managers gave their perspective on workforce priorities, current competencies and future needs, with a 70 % response rate. Practitioners reported on public health workforce priorities, qualifications and needs, with a 56 % response rate.ResultsThe top practice priorities for managers were diabetes (35 %), alcohol and other drugs (33 %), and cardiovascular disease (27 %). Obesity (19 %), poor nutrition (15 %) and inadequate physical activity (10 %) were of lower priority. For nutrition, managers identified lack of staff (60.4 %), organisational and management factors (39.5 %) and insufficient financial resources (30.2 %) as the major barriers to adequate service delivery. For physical activity services, insufficient financial resources (41.7 %) and staffing (35.4 %) and a lack of specific physical activity service specifications (25.0 %) were the main barriers. Practitioners identified inadequate staffing as the main barrier to service delivery for nutrition (42.3 %) and physical activity (23.3 %). Ideally, managers said they required 152 % more specialist nutritionists in the workforce and 131 % specialists for physical activity services to meet health outcomes in addition to other generalist staff.ConclusionHuman and financial resources and organisational factors were the main barriers to meeting obesity, and public health nutrition and physical activity outcomes. Services were being delivered by generalists rather than specialists, which may reduce service effectiveness. Although conclusions from this research need to take into account the fact that the audit was conducted in 2004, the findings suggest that there was a need to equip health services with an adequately skilled workforce of sufficient capacity to deliver an effective public health response to the obesity epidemic, particularly addressing poor nutrition and physical inactivity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workforce capacity to address obesity: a Western Australian cross-sectional study identifies the gap between health priority and human resources needed

Begley

Pollard

2016

BMC Public Health

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“…Although very little is known about this overall public health nutrition workforce, considerably more is known about the workforce employed in or funded by governmental health agencies. This is because since 1985 the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND) has conducted periodic workforce surveys (48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53) . Prior to 1994, these workforce studies were conducted by surveying state nutrition directors to describe full-time budgeted nutrition personnel employed in their respective governmental health agencies.…”

Section: Who Is the Us Public Health Nutrition Workforce?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This number, however, is an important underestimation, because it did not include personnel from California, which constituted about 24 % of the 1999-2000 workforce. Acknowledging this discrepancy, the more recent workforce seemed to have a greater proportion of personnel working in budgeted positions (95?5 % v. 93?7 %), full-time (80?6 % v. 77?9 %) and in non-profit and for-profit agencies (29?1 % v. 28?3 %) (52,53) . Based on position classification, the more recent workforce also had more personnel with direct-care service responsibilities (69?4 % v. 65?6 %) and fewer with population/ system-focused responsibilities (30?4 % v. 34?4 %) (52,53) .…”

Section: Who Is the Us Public Health Nutrition Workforce?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1994 it funded 78 % FTE (52) and by 1999-2000 it funded 81?7 % FTE (53) . Although federal funding has been the primary means of funding public health nutrition personnel, ranging from approximately 76 % in 1985 to 87 % in 1999-2000, proportional funding of WIC has increased, while that of other federal funding sources, such as the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant and the Preventive Services Block Grant, has remained flat or decreased (48,50,52,53) (Table 1). This significant level of WIC funding impacts not only how public health nutrition personnel function but also with whom.…”

Section: Who Is the Us Public Health Nutrition Workforce?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Personnel described in these studies provided predominantly population-based services and not one-on-one diet counselling ( 48 – 51 ) . Beginning in 1994 ( 52 ) and with the subsequent 1999–2000 survey ( 53 ) , personnel were surveyed directly. They included both full-time and part-time nutrition personnel, who were employed in governmental health agencies or funded by governmental health agencies in for-profit and non-profit agencies.…”

Section: Who Is the Us Public Health Nutrition Workforce?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Public Health Nutrition workforce and its future challenges: the US experience

Haughton

George

2008

Public Health Nutr.

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Objectives: To describe the US public health nutrition workforce and its future social, biological and fiscal challenges. Design: Literature review primarily for the four workforce surveys conducted since 1985 by the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors. Setting: The United States. Subjects: Nutrition personnel working in governmental health agencies. The 1985 and 1987 subjects were personnel in full-time budgeted positions employed in governmental health agencies providing predominantly population-based services. In 1994 and 1999 subjects were both full-time and part-time, employed in or funded by governmental health agencies, and provided both direct-care and population-based services. Results: The workforce primarily focuses on direct-care services for pregnant and breast-feeding women, infants and children. The US Department of Agriculture funds 81?7 % of full-time equivalent positions, primarily through the WIC Program (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). Of those personnel working in WIC, 45 % have at least 10 years of experience compared to over 65 % of the non-WIC workforce. Continuing education needs of the WIC and non-WIC workforces differ. The workforce is increasingly more racially/ethnically diverse and with 18?2 % speaking Spanish as a second language. Conclusions:The future workforce will need to focus on increasing its diversity and cultural competence, and likely will need to address retirement within leadership positions. Little is known about the workforce's capacity to address the needs of the elderly, emergency preparedness and behavioural interventions. Fiscal challenges will require evidence-based practice demonstrating both costs and impact. Little is known about the broader public health nutrition workforce beyond governmental health agencies.

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Public Health Workforce Research in Review

Hilliard

Boulton

2012

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

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Profile of Public Health Nutrition Personnel

Cited by 22 publications

References 14 publications

Workforce capacity to address obesity: a Western Australian cross-sectional study identifies the gap between health priority and human resources needed

Workforce capacity to address obesity: a Western Australian cross-sectional study identifies the gap between health priority and human resources needed

The Public Health Nutrition workforce and its future challenges: the US experience

Public Health Workforce Research in Review

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