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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- School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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
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