Measuring the authority of local public health directors in the context of organizational structure: an exploratory, multimodal approach.

Context: Studies have reported a relationship between the organization of public health services and variability in public health practice at the local and state levels. A national research agenda has prioritized practice-based research to understand pathways that lead to this variation and examine the impact of these differences on outcomes.

Objectives: To measure the extent to which Minnesota local health directors report having key authorities and examine the relationship between organizational structure and authority of local health directors.