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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1387371

Building Capacity for Local Public Health: Lessons from a Mixed-Methods Evaluation of an Academic-Public Health Partnership Used in Response to COVID-19

Provisionally accepted
Sarah Fielman Sarah Fielman Patricia A. Elliott Patricia A. Elliott Alyson Codner Alyson Codner Hiba Abousleiman Hiba Abousleiman Ally Cogan Ally Cogan Zoë Wangstrom Zoë Wangstrom Jacey A. Greece Jacey A. Greece *
  • School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction The Massachusetts Academic Health Department Consortium (AHD) established the Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps (APHVC) to support Local Health Departments (LHDs, n=351) to meet rapidly emerging needs during the COVID-19 pandemic through engaging student volunteers. A program evaluation captured lessons learned and informed recommendations for sustainability and future replication. Methods: The mixed-methods evaluation leveraged the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Data were stratified by LHD engagement with APHVC. Quantitative surveys informed probes for qualitative focus groups and interviews; findings were categorized into CFIR constructs using a deductive approach. Results: One-fifth of LHDs (n=76, 27 used APHVC services, 45 did not) completed the survey. Eleven employees participated in follow-up focus groups or interviews. APHVC filled resource gaps, built capacity, and provided high-quality deliverables. LHDs experienced issues with reliability and communication of volunteers and lacked time to train volunteers. Conclusions: CFIR aided in evaluating APHVC in real time, producing actionable recommendations for best practices, dissemination, and future iterations of the program. Results are being used to enhance program effectiveness and sustainability, community health, and health equity across Massachusetts, and may help inform academic practice-based programs across the United States.

    Keywords: COVID-19, local public health, Academic-practice partnerships, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), mixed-methods program evaluation

    Received: 17 Feb 2024; Accepted: 17 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fielman, Elliott, Codner, Abousleiman, Cogan, Wangstrom and Greece. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jacey A. Greece, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, 02118, Massachusetts, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.