Graduate programs

Abstract

Objectives

To determine characteristics of community health/preventive medicine and community health education graduate programs.

Methods

Forty-eight graduate programs were identified as potential respondents and sent a written survey to complete.

Results

Forty programs responded; 82% of programs accredited or applying for accreditation responded. During the 1998–1999 period, 3456 students were enrolled and 773 students graduated from these programs, 91% earning the master of public health (MPH) degree. Two thirds of students were employed while enrolled in these programs.

Conclusion

Graduate programs train a significant number of public health students, meeting the needs of health professionals with flexible course formats in locations where schools of public health are not available.

Introduction

T he need for well-trained public health workers has never been greater. Well-documented threats, from bioterrorism to emerging infectious diseases and environmental contamination, face the nation.1 Recent reports and initiatives emphasize (1) the various educational and experiential paths leading to careers in public health; (2) the lack of formal education in public health by a majority of the public health workforce; (3) the aging of the public health workforce; and (4) the tremendous changes in the functions of the public health system.2, 3, 4, 5 The 1988 Institute of Medicine Report, The Future of Public Health,2 charged schools of public health and other educational institutions with educating new students and existing public health workers to assume leadership positions and to practice public health in new and different settings. What do we know about the academic public health institutions where this education occurs?

Academic public health encompasses the schools of public health (SPH), graduate programs in community health/preventive medicine (CHPM), and graduate programs in community health education (CHE). The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredits all of these academic public health institutions, and the accreditation procedures for all institutions are the same. In 2000, Clark and Weist6 reported that approximately 4800 masters-prepared students completed their training in the 28 SPH existing at that time.

The CHPM programs offer masters degrees in a variety of concentrations and fields, while the CHE programs offer degrees solely in health education. Throughout the United States, the number of graduate public health programs is growing more rapidly than the schools of public health.7 The CHPM and CHE graduate programs are a vital resource for the training of the public health workforce; however, data on these programs have not been collected and published since 1994.8

CEPH defines three accreditation categories: accredited, pre-accredited, and applicant.9 Schools and programs have similar but distinct accreditation criteria.10, 11, 12 The differences follow:

• A school of public health must demonstrate organizational independence; that is, it must have the same status and independence afforded to other professional schools (e.g., medicine) at the university. A program can be housed within a school of medicine or another professional school.

• A school of public health must offer an MPH degree concentration in each of the five core disciplines: epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, the social and behavioral sciences, and health administration. A program can offer one or more MPH degrees in any discipline or a generalist emphasis.

• A school of public health must offer at least one doctoral degree. There is no such requirement for programs.

Between the CHPM and CHE programs there is only one major difference in accreditation criteria.11, 12 The health education criteria (Criterion V, B) delineate specific health-education competency areas that a CHE program must provide.12 The CHPM criteria are not specific as to teaching particular competencies.

The accreditation criteria for schools and programs are otherwise the same. CEPH requires that accredited educational institutions periodically provide data as the basis for longer terms of accreditation. The data have consistent definitions and methodologies within each of the three sets of accreditation criteria. The Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (ATPM), through its Council of Graduate Programs in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, facilitates collection of data on graduate programs.

In 1999, the Council of Graduate Programs decided to survey the CHE and CHPM programs in collaboration with CEPH. The Health Resources and Services Administration provided support to ATPM to identify the sample, create the survey instrument, analyze the data, and prepare the report. CEPH provided mailing services for the survey, created a database, and provided data entry services.