ASPH Core MPH Competency Development Project

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ASPH Core MPH Competency Development Project

• ASPH Associate Deans Retreat
• Friday June 23, 2006
• Dr. Jack Barnette and Dr. Sharon Krag

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MPH Core Competency Development ProjectWhy?

• Increased emphasis on accountability
• Proliferation of competency-based training in
  public health
• Challenges of 21st century practice
• Recommendations by important national
  organizations (e.g. IOM)
• Increasing incorporation of competencies into
  accreditation
• Development of National Board of Public Health
  Examiners (NBPHE)

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Two-Phased Process

• Phase 1 (2004-2005)
• Discipline-specific Competency Identification and
  Specification
• Phase 2 (2005-2006)
• Cross-cutting Competency Identification and
  Specification

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Workgroups Charge

• Each workgroup is to identify eight to ten
  sub-competencies (KSOs knowledge, skills, and
  other characteristics) that are critical to
  indicating accomplishment of the core competency.

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Phase 1 Workgroups Chairs

• Biostatistics  Jack Barnette (UAB)
• Environmental Health  Mark Robson (UMDNJ)
• Epidemiology  Michel Ibrahim (JHU) and Michael
  Moser (Akron Health Department and NEOUCOM)
• Health Policy and Management  Peggy Leatt (UNC)
  and Diana Hilberman (UCLA)
• Social and Behavioral Sciences  Kenneth McLeroy
  (Texas AM) and Bill Satariano (UC-Berkeley)
  and,
• Public Health Biology  Sharon Krag (JHU) and
  Kathy Miner (Emory).

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Phase 2 Workgroups Chairs

• Communication Dean John Finnegan (Minnesota)
• Diversity and Culture Dr. Joseph Telfair (UAB)
• Leadership Dean James Kyle (LLU)
• Professionalism Dean Donna Petersen (USF)
• Program Planning Dr. Robert Goodman (Pittsburgh)
  and Dr. Sylvia Guendelman (UC-Berkeley) and,
• Public Health Biology  Sharon Krag (JHU) and
  Kathy Miner (Emory).
• Systems Thinking Dr. Jim Porto (UNC)

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Aims

• An integrated set of core MPH competencies with
• five basic public health sciences domains, and
• seven cross-cutting domains
• The set is intended to serve as a resource and
  guide
• ASPH will not prescribe the methods nor processes
  for achievement

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Definition of Core MPH Degree Competencies

• A unique set of applied knowledge, skills, and
  other attributes grounded in theory and evidence,
  for the broad practice of public health (ASPH,
  2004)

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• These are competencies that every MPH student
  ought to be able to demonstrate upon graduation
  regardless of their major or area of
  specialization.

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Upon graduation, what must a student with an MPH

• Know
• Be able to do (technical and behavioral skills)
• Value/appreciate (affective attributes)

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Phase 1 Stats

• Involvement of ASPH faculty experts,
  practitioners, and program reps (n 135)
• 48 competencies in five discipline-specific areas
• Delphi response rate ranged from 72-100 in the
  three rounds for each group (with a total average
  of 91)

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Phase 2 Stats

• Participants (n197)
• 9 to 13 members in each core group
• 17 to 28 members in each resource group
• Total of 70 competencies in the 7 cross-cutting
  domains
• Delphi response rate ranged from 66-100 in the
  three rounds for each group (with a total average
  of 85)

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Stats, Cont.

• 325 faculty and practice partners participation
• 48 70 118 Core Competencies

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Important Components of the Process

• Geared towards all MPH graduates, regardless of
  specialty area, background, or job trajectory
• Built upon work of the Council on Linkages, CDC,
  member schools, etc.
• Involvement of ASPH faculty experts,
  practitioners, and program reps (n 135)
• Use of nominal group processes (e.g. Delphi
  Technique)

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Important Components, Cont.

• Discipline-specific competencies reviewed for
  interdisciplinary integration into a core MPH set
• Final consensus set to serve as a resource to
  improve quality and accountability of grad PH
  education 
• The competencies will respect the uniqueness and
  diversity of schools and programs

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Core Competency Graphic Model
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Issues

• Accreditation
• Credentialing
• Implementation

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Issues

• Accreditation (CEPH)
• A school may develop its own competencies or may
  subscribe to competencies that have been
  promulgated by recognized public health
  organizations that demonstrate an understanding
  of public health practice needs. In public health
  specialty areas where there is profession-wide
  acceptance of specific competencies the school
  must subscribe to those accepted competencies or
  justify their modification.
• - CEPH, Accreditation Criteria for Schools of
  Public Health, Amended June 2005

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Issue Accreditation Cont.

• the intent of CEPH is that this criterion will
  apply only to competencies formally adopted by
  defined specialty organizations such as in the
  field of health education and that it will not
  apply to any documents that are designed to guide
  or advise schools in creating their own
  competencies. In particular, we seek assurance
  that ASPHs and the schools ongoing efforts to
  better define competencies that we wish to
  instill in our graduates will not be made
  mandatory by this criterion.

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Issue Accreditation Cont.

• The Council has no intent to make the
  competencies recently distributed by ASPH and
  member schools mandatory by way of the
  accreditation criteria. The specific
  competencies to which the interpretive language
  in Criterion 2.6 refers relates to specialty
  areas (ie, concentrations, specializations,
  tracks, options). Our understanding is that the
  ASPH competencies are not meant to relate to
  specialty areas, but are intended to be general
  competencies for all MPH students, more in line
  with competencies related to core coursework. In
  addition, they are not accepted profession-wide
  or validated. Currently, the only competencies
  that meet this definition are those in health
  education.

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Issues - Credentialing

• ASPH stands by the competencies as the result of
  an inclusive, well-vetted process that will
  contribute to the national discussion on the core
  of the MPH degree
• ASPH anticipates that, in the absence of previous
  national consensus on competencies for the core
  of the MPH degree, these competencies may provide
  guidance, along with other sets, in the process
  of developing the exam

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Issues - Implementation

• Individual SPHs may review their own curricula in
  light of their mission, goals, and objectives
  against the competencies
• The discipline-specific and the cross-cutting
  competencies are not necessarily taught in any
  single course
• The model in line with all competency models
  for a field will never be finalized. This is
  the first of an ongoing iterative process for
  development. Hence this first model serves as the
  baseline/launch model that will need to be
  regularly reviewed as the field continues to
  evolve.

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Future

• Version 2.2 will include a glossary list and list
  of competency resources and will be presented to
  the Deans at their retreat
• Version 2.3 will be presented to the ASPH Board
  of Directors.

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Recommendations for Next Steps from the Education
Committee

• Dissemination
• Publish an article in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Publish a commentary in AJPH.
• Organize a special issue in PHR.
• Encourage competency workgroup chairs and member
  to present at their professional associations
  such as Society for Epidemiological Research,
  CAMHE, etc.
• Evaluation
• Explore opportunities for funding from
  organizations such as RWJF to evaluate the
  impact.
• Develop a demonstration project, such as the NCHL
  model.
• Utilize practice partners for evaluation.
• Workshop
• Convene a similar workshop next year to focus on
  the competency utilization.

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For Discussion

• Based on your institutions work to date on
  integrating competencies into your
  curriculum/curricula
• What did you find to be the most difficult aspect
  in getting the initiative started at your
  institution?
• Were there any key barriers to initial faculty
  acceptance of and support for the initiative?
• If so, what key questions/concerns had to first
  be addressed with your faculty and other
  planners/implementers?

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For Discussion Cont.

• What were some of the key success factors during
  the early stages of the initiative in relation to
  getting buy-in for the process?
• What are some of the key considerations for ASPH
  as the Model is disseminated in relation to
  schools utilizing the competencies in their
  curricula?
• Are there other suggestions/recommendations you
  have for schools as they launch similar
  competency-based endeavors based on the ASPH Core
  Competency Model?

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Ways to Move to Next Steps

• Strategic Priority
• Cultural Dimension
• Technical Dimension
• Structural Dimensions/Forums of Learning