Open AccessChallenges and Innovations in Surveying the Governmental Public Health Workforce
Author(s) -
Jonathon P. Leider,
Gulzar H. Shah,
Nikki Rider,
Angela J. Beck,
Brian C. Castrucci,
Jenine K. Harris,
Katie Sellers,
Danielle M. Varda,
Jiali Ye,
Paul Campbell Erwin,
Ross C. Brownson
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2016.303424
Subject(s) - public health , workforce , public relations , medicine , environmental health , political science , nursing , law
Surveying governmental public health practitioners is a critical means of collecting data about public health organizations, their staff, and their partners. A greater focus on evidence-based practices, practice-based systems research, and evaluation has resulted in practitioners consistently receiving requests to participate in myriad surveys. This can result in a substantial survey burden for practitioners and declining response rates for researchers. This is potentially damaging to practitioners and researchers as well as the field of public health more broadly. We have examined recent developments in survey research, especially issues highly relevant for public health practice. We have also proposed a process by which researchers can engage with practitioners and practitioner groups on research questions of mutual interest.