Minnesota Public Health Corps: A New Model For Building The Governmental Public Health Workforce.

Governmental public health agencies in the US are understaffed, and ongoing shortages will have a detrimental effect on their ability to provide basic public health services and protections. Public Health AmeriCorps was established in 2022 to support efforts to create a stronger and more diverse public health workforce nationwide. The Minnesota Public Health Corps, one of the largest Public Health AmeriCorps models, is a capacity-building program that places AmeriCorps members directly into governmental public health settings across the state.

A Scoping Review of Health Equity Interventions in Governmental Public Health.

Context: Despite major efforts in research, practice, and policy, racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care persist in the United States. Interventions in collaboration with governmental public health may provide ways to address these persistent racial and ethnic health and health care disparities and improve health outcomes.

Objective: To conduct a comprehensive review of health equity interventions performed in collaboration with public health agencies.

Enhancing Workforce Pathways: Insights From a Paid Internship Pilot Program Linking Public Health Students and Local Health Departments.

The persistent understaffing of the governmental public health workforce has led to program cutbacks, staff burnout at local health departments (LHDs), and an urgent need to replenish staffing. To build recruitment pathways into LHDs and build their workforce capacity, we introduced a paid internship initiative connecting Master's in Public Health students from a Midwestern university with LHDs in the state. This article presents the pilot program developed and the insights gained from it.

Retention of Community Health Workers in the Public Health Workforce: Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, 2017 and 2021.

To investigate the organizational factors contributing to the intent of community health workers (CHWs) to quit their jobs in local and state health departments in the United States. We used the 2017 (n = 844) and 2021 (n = 1014) Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey data sets to predict CHWs' intent to leave with Stata 17 balanced repeated replication survey estimations. CHWs dissatisfied with organizational support, pay, or job security had high probabilities of reporting an intent to leave (50%,  < .

What Are Public Health Agencies Planning for Workforce Development? A Content Analysis of Workforce Development Plans of Accredited Public Health Departments.

Objective: Recruiting and retaining public health employees and ensuring they have the skills necessary to respond are vital for meeting public health needs. As the first study examining health department (HD) workforce development plans (WDPs), this study presents gaps and strategies identified in WDPs across 201 accredited HDs (168 initial/33 reaccreditation plans).

Design: This cross-sectional study employed qualitative review and content analysis of WDPs submitted to the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) between March 2016 and November 2021.

Staffing Local Health Departments in Minnesota-Needs, Priorities, and Concerns.

Context: The roles and responsibilities of local health departments (LHDs), as well as the hiring challenges they face, have changed since the pandemic started.

Objectives: To explore (1) staffing needs and priorities of LHDs in Minnesota, and (2) financial and community-level factors impeding health departments from maintaining optimal staffing.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A cross-sectional online survey was administered via Qualtrics in July 2022 to city and county health departments in Minnesota (97% participation rate).

The State of the US Public Health Workforce: Ongoing Challenges and Future Directions.

Between the 2009 Great Recession and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US state and local governmental public health workforce lost 40,000 jobs. Tens of thousands of workers also left during the pandemic and continue to leave. As governmental health departments are now receiving multimillion-dollar, temporary federal investments to replenish their workforce, this review synthesizes the evidence regarding major challenges that preceded the pandemic and remain now.

Perceptions of Resettled Refugee Congolese Women: Maintaining Cultural Traditions during Resettlement.

Conflict-displaced refugees have increased significantly globally. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the leading country with refugees in the United States, where many resettle in Ohio. Women refugees are highly vulnerable, yet little literature has focused on them.

Trends in Degree Conferrals, Degree-Associated Debt, and Employment Outcomes Among Undergraduate Public Health Degree Graduates, 2001‒2020.

To characterize the trends in degree conferrals, degree-associated debt, and employment outcomes among undergraduate public health degree (UGPHD) graduates. We reported administrative data on degree conferrals from 2001 to 2020 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). For alumni graduating from 2015 to 2019, we also reported degree-associated debt and earnings 1 year after graduation compiled by NCES.

Public Health Workforce Gaps, Impacts, and Improvement Strategies from COVID-19.

The public health workforce has been instrumental in protecting residents against population health threats. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the public health workforce and exposed gaps in the workforce. Public health practitioners nationwide are still coming to understand these gaps, impacts, and lessons learned from the pandemic.

Youth physical activity and the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.

The purpose of the systematic review was to identify, evaluate, and synthesize evidence from available published literature examining the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on youth physical activity (PA). A systematic review of the literature was conducted for years 2020-2021. Published articles were searched in eight databases.

Trail Conditions and Community Use: Utilizing Geospatial Video to Guide the Adoption of a Spatial-Temporal Trail Audit Tool (STAT).

Physical activity (PA), associated with all-cause mortality, morbidity, and healthcare costs, improves vitamin D absorption, immune response, and stress when completed outdoors. Rural communities, which experience PA inequities, rely on trails to meet PA guidelines. However, current trail audit methods could be more efficient and accurate, which geospatial video may support.

LGBT* After Loss: A Mixed-Method Analysis on the Effect of Partner Bereavement on Interpersonal Relationships and Subsequent Partnerships.

Grief and bereavement are universal human experiences that do not discriminate based on sex, gender, or sexual orientation. Existing literature provides valuable insight into the bereavement experiences of persons who identify as heterosexuals, but much less can be found on persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender/queer* (LGBT*). Given that the historical experiences of loss and personal characteristics such as interpersonal, familial, and social patterns of coping with grief are likely to influence the bereavement process, this study focused on the impact of partner bereavement on the interpersonal relationships and subsequent partnerships of the LGBT* bereaved.