Evaluation of Required Practice Experience to Improve Public Health Competencies

Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredited schools/programs require adoption of Competency-Based Education models (CBE) for public health programs. All CEPH accredited CBE MPH programs also require a practice experience, such as an internship, to apply competencies acquired through didactic means. This study evaluated the use of practice experiences to improve acquisition of MPH competencies in an accredited college. Students (N=19) assessed competencies (N=55) before and after completion of their internship using self-reported questionnaires. Overall, 49.5% of competencies improved. Core public health competencies and concentration competencies showed 64.8% and 61% improvement rates, respectively. Comparatively, non-core and non-concentration competencies improved at rates of 47.1% and 48.2%.  Chi-square analysis indicated significant differences in improvement rates between core and non-core, non-concentration competencies (X2=13.71, p=.000), and between concentration and non-core, non-concentration competencies (X2=7.23, p=.007). Multiple regression analysis showed no significant association between competency improvement and possible confounders including paid vs. unpaid, full vs. part time, or local vs. international internships. Despite limitations, such as small sample size, our preliminary conclusion is that practice experiences are critical tools for improving students’ public health competencies, especially core and concentration competencies.