NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region, Qikiqtaaluk Region

Tags: health, health workforce

Objective(s): 1. To develop and validate national workforce indicators that provide measurable information on the diversity, characteristics, knowledge/skills, and needs of the public health workforce in Canada, and 2. To determine the diversity of the public health workforce in Canada, the extent to which core competencies are being met, and current and future workplace needs.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5950. The objectives of this study are two-fold: 1. To develop and validate national workforce indicators that provide measurable information on the diversity, characteristics, knowledge/skills, and needs of the public health workforce in Canada, and 2. To determine the diversity of the public health workforce in Canada, the extent to which core competencies are being met, and current and future workplace needs. All stages of this research will be conducted electronically; as such, there is no precise location to provide. Stakeholder focus groups (Phase A ) will be conducted online via the Zoom platform, as will content validation expert panels, and cognitive in-person interviews. In the second stage of the study, participants will self-refer to an online link to an electronic survey. Descriptions of all stages and phases of the project will follow. Note that no study personnel will be required to physically enter the Northwest Territories. Stage #1: Develop and Validate a Workforce Indicators Survey Tool Phase A. Stakeholder Focus Groups with Public Health Leaders to Elicit Feedback on PH WINS and Generate Workforce Indicator Survey Themes For recruitment, the research team will target public health decision-makers responsible for human resource management, recruitment, retention, funding, and professional development decisions (e.g., Medical Officers of Health (MOHs), Chief Nursing Officers, Directors, and Managers) in Canada. Participants will be recruited through national and provincial/territorial communication channels and collaborators (e.g., email, organizational newsletters, membership lists of public health organizations). The focus groups will collect feedback on how useful the categories and items are in the US-based Public Health Workforce Interest and Needs Survey (PH WINS), and how it could be changed to reflect Canadian public health workforce needs. Six focus groups of 6-10 participants will be conducted, representing all six regions of Canada (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Prairies, and Territories). Five groups will be in English, and one will be in French, facilitated by a Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Belita (the Nominated Principal Applicant), and French-speaking collaborators. These sessions will last about 1.5 hours and will take place over Zoom. Participants will receive the PH WINS survey beforehand for review. During the session, moderators will use a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions to discuss strengths, areas for improvement in PH WINS, and additional data needs. Zoom audio recordings will be transcribed, and a Master’s Student/RA will also take field notes for extra insight. The research team will analyze focus group transcripts to identify themes about strengths, changes needed in PH WINS, and new items about the Canadian public health workforce. Dr. Belita and trainees/staff will independently code focus group data from transcripts using a code book developed by Dr. Belita and a secondary coder. Afterwards, data will be themed into broad categories and defined. Phase B. Content Validation Using an Expert Panel Using research team contacts, two national expert panels (one English, one French) will be selected by the research team to examine the changes and suggestions for the PH-WINS made in Phase A in a draft of the proposed survey. Each panel will have at least five experts and include a diverse group of public health researchers and decision-makers. Panelists will be sent an invitation to participate via email; if they agree, panelists receive an anonymous online survey link through McMaster’s secure email. They will review and rate the relevance of items within the draft census survey and provide suggestions for improvement. Content validity indices will be used to determine highly rated items on the survey for final inclusion and items for deletion for the next proposed census draft. Qualitative feedback on suggested changes to the survey will also be used to adjust survey items. Phase C. Response Process Validation Using Cognitive Interviews Following revisions to the survey in Phase B, the research team will evaluate how well survey respondents understand and answer survey questions as intended. Sample/Recruitment: Using the research team's diverse connections in the public health sector (e.g., Community Health Nurses of Canada, Canadian Public Health Association), we will recruit a sample of public health workers currently employed in a local public health unit or regional health authority in Canada (full or part-time), working in any role. Participants will be directed to contact the research team if they want to take part. Data collection: Dr. Belita and members of the research team will conduct 30-minute semi-structured individual interviews via Zoom. Participants will be asked to answer each item and then respond to determine if each item is easy to both understand and answer. Interviews will be audio recorded and supplemented with detailed field notes by the Master’s student/RA. Interviews will be transcribed verbatim using an external transcription service. Stage 2: Determine the nature and extent of diversity, core competencies, and workplace needs of the public health workforce in Canada Using the final draft of the survey which was developed throughout Stage 1, the research team will attempt to gather data from all public health workers in Canada (census approach) within every LPHU (n=106) to ensure provincial/territorial representation. Sample/Recruitment: Eligibility will include public health workers employed in any role in a full/part-time role at the provincial, local or regional level, whose primary work responsibilities include any of the following public health functions: a) health protection, b) health surveillance, c) disease and injury prevention, d) population health assessment, e) health promotion, and f) emergency management. Using an established registry of LPHUs across Canada, we will email all identified Medical Officers of Health (MOH) (n=106) an invitation for their LPHU to participate in the study. Survey administration and data collection: Once organizations agree to participate and receive ethics approvals, Medical Officers of Health (MOH) will be asked to distribute a link to an online anonymous workforce survey to all eligible staff. They will also designate a specific person in each workplace to encourage and remind staff to complete the survey. The survey will include revised items developed during Stage 1, as well as questions about public health skills and knowledge that our project collaborator, the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH), has developed. The survey will be administered through the secure REDCap platform hosted by McMaster University, ensuring data encryption and storage on Canadian servers. Stage 1: Findings will be disseminated widely via published manuscripts regarding Phases A-C of our study as well as present at conferences/workshops. Stage 2. Census Survey: As data will be collected via an anonymous survey, it will not be possible to disseminate results directly to participants who complete the census survey. However, aggregate findings will be disseminated through provincial/territorial collaborators such as public health organization collaborators (e.g., CPHA, OPHNL), academic publications, and conference presentations. Participants may be the target audience of these events. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: August 9 - December 31, 2024