DrPH Program Competencies

DrPH Foundational Competencies

Data & Analysis

1. Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community and population) levels
2. Design a qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, policy analysis or evaluation project to address a public health issue
3. Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health

Leadership, Management & Governance

4. Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders and other partners
5. Communicate public health science to diverse stakeholders, including individuals at all levels of health literacy, for purposes of influencing behavior and policies
6. Integrate knowledge, approaches, methods, values and potential contributions from multiple professions and systems in addressing public health problems
7. Create a strategic plan
8. Facilitate shared decision making through negotiation and consensus-building methods
9. Create organizational change strategies
10. Propose strategies to promote inclusion and equity within public health programs, policies and systems
11. Assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses in leadership capacities, including cultural proficiency
12. Propose human, fiscal and other resources to achieve a strategic goal
13. Cultivate new resources and revenue streams to achieve a strategic goal

Policy & Programs

14. Design a system-level intervention to address a public health issue
15. Integrate knowledge of cultural values and practices in the design of public health policies and programs
16. Integrate scientific information, legal and regulatory approaches, ethical frameworks and varied stakeholder interests in policy development and analysis
17. Propose interprofessional team approaches to improving public health

Education & Workforce Development

18. Assess an audience’s knowledge and learning needs
19. Deliver training or educational experiences that promote learning in academic, organizational or community settings
20. Use best practice modalities in pedagogical practices

Updated March 6, 2017

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DrPH Leadership Concentration Competencies

In addition to the DrPH foundational competencies specified by CEPH, the COPH’s DrPH program will address the following concentration competencies:

Students Beginning Program Spring 2021 to Present

• Evaluate leadership best practices that should be employed on the range of public health interventions to address a given public health issue.
• Create a diverse community coalition utilizing best practice communication strategies.
• Create and describe in a public presentation a response plan to be implemented by public health leaders in the event of a public health crisis.
• Evaluate organizational leadership responsibilities and community service roles of a centralized state public health agency.
• Debate alternative approaches and select the appropriate legal authority supporting government interventions and contrast and compare this authority with individual rights and freedoms in a public health setting.

Students Beginning Program Fall 2017 to Fall 2019

• Apply community-based participatory principles to public health practice and research.
• Critically analyze potential risks, benefits, and unintended consequences of proposed research, policy, and practice.
• Identify capacity needs within organizations and communities and develop strategies to address those needs.
• Demonstrate ethical behavior in teaching, research, and practice.
• Apply current and appropriate theories to the development of community-based programs and organization initiatives.

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Students Beginning Program Spring 2013 to Summer 2017

• Apply community-based participatory principles to public health practice and research.
• Collect, analyze, interpret, and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data following current scientific standards.
• Demonstrate cultural sensitivity in all aspects of public health leadership, practice and research.
• Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills in working with diverse professional and lay groups.
• Evaluate organizational performance in relation to strategic and defined goals.
• Apply current and appropriate theories and best practices to the management of organizations and initiatives.
• Guide an organization’s or community initiative’s strategic making and subsequent decision-making and practice using currently accepted leadership theory and principles.
• Develop capacity-building strategies at the individual, organizational, and community level.
• Demonstrate a commitment to personal and professional values, and apply ethical standards to all aspects of public health practice and research.
• Collaborate with diverse groups to achieve organizational goals.
• Influence health policy and program decision-making using critical analysis, presentation of scientific evidence regarding the impact on population health, and strategic planning and consensus building strategies.
• Weigh risks, benefits, and unintended consequences of research ,policy, and practice.
• Apply theoretical and evidence-based perspectives from multiple disciplines in the design, implementation and evaluation of needs and resource assessments, programs, policies, and systems.
• Develop collaborative partnerships with communities, policy makers, and other relevant groups to assess community health and conduct programs and research that are evidence-based, culturally competent, and linguistically appropriate.

Students Beginning Spring 2012 to Fall 2012

• Present positions on health issues, law, and policy.
• Advocacy: Utilize concensus-building, negotiation, and conflict resolution techniques.
• Advocacy: Analyze the impact of legislation, judicial opinion, regulations, and policies on population health.
• Advocacy: Establish goals, timelines, funding alternatives, and strategies for influencing policy initiatives.
• Advocacy: Design action plans for building public and political support for programs and policies.
• Develop evidence-based strategies for changing health law and policy.
• Discuss the inter-relationships between health communication and marketing.
• Communication: Explain communication program proposals and evaluations to lay, professional, and policy audiences.
• Communication: Employ evidence-based communication program models for disseminating research and evaluation outcomes.
• Communication: Guide an organization in setting communication goals, objectives, and priorities.
• Create informational and persuasive communications.
• Communication: Integrate health literacy concepts in all communication and marketing initiatives.
• Develop formative and outcome evaluation plans for communication and marketing efforts.
• Communication: Prepare dissemination plans for communication programs and evaluations.
• Communication: Propose recommendations for improving communication processes.
• Community/Cultural Orientation: Engage communities in creating evidence-based, culturally competent programs.
• Conduct community-based participatory intervention and research projects.
• Design action plans for enhancing community and population-based health.\
• Community/Cultural Orientation: Assess cultural, environmental, and social justice influences on the health of communities.
• Implement culturally and linguistically appropriate programs, services, and research.
• Interpret quantitative and qualitative data following current scientific standards.
• Critical Analysis: Design needs and resource assessments for communities and populations.
• Develop health surveillance systems to monitor population health, health equity, and public health services.
• Critical Analysis: Synthesize information from multiple sources for research and practice.
• Evaluate the performance and impact of health programs, policies, and systems.
• Communicate an organization’s mission, shared vision, and values to stakeholders.
• Leadership: Develop teams for implementing health initiatives.
• Leadership: Influence others to achieve high standards of performance and accountability.
• Leadership: Prepare professional plans incorporating lifelong learning, mentoring, and continued career progression strategies.
• Create a shared vision.
• Management: Implement strategic planning processes.
• Management: Implement strategic planning processes.
• Use informatics principles in the design and implementation of information systems.
• Management: Align policies and procedures with regulatory and statutory requirements.
• Management: Deploy quality improvement methods.
• Management: Organize the work environment with defined lines of responsibility, authority, communication, and governance.
• Management: Develop financial and business plans for health programs and services.
• Management: Establish a network of relationships, including internal and external collaborators.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Manage potential conflicts of interest encountered by practitioners, researchers and organizations.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Differentiate among the administrative, legal, ethical, and quality assurance dimensions of public health research and practice.
• Professionalism and Ethnics: Design strategies for resolving ethical concerns in research, law, and regulations.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Develop tools that protect the privacy of individuals and communities involved in health programs, policies, and research.
• Prepare criteria for which the protection of the public welfare may transcend the right to individual autonomy.
• Assess ethical considerations in developing communications and promotional initiatives.
• Communication: Create and evaluate informational and persuasive communications.
• Community/Cultural Orientation: Design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically appropriate services, and research.
• Leadership: Create and communicate an organization’s mission, vision, and values.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Identify and justify circumstances in which the protection of the public welfare may transcend the right to individual autonomy.
• Professionalism and Ethics: Apply ethical standards to all aspects of public health practice and research.