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. 2005 Mar-Apr;120(2):186–191. doi: 10.1177/003335490512000213

Self-assessment in the measurement of public health workforce preparedness for bioterrorism or other public health disasters.

Dave S Kerby 1, Michael W Brand 1, David L Johnson 1, Farooq S Ghouri 1
PMCID: PMC1497707  PMID: 15842121

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to evaluate public health workers' competence for preparedness. METHODS: The Public Health Ready project, developed by the National Association of County and City Public Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot program designed to prepare local public health agencies to respond to emergency events. Workers at a Public Health Ready site (N=265) rated their need for training and their competence in meeting generic emergency response goals. Cluster analysis of cases was conducted on the self-assessed need for training. RESULTS: Three groups of workers emerged, differing in their overall ratings of need for training. A given worker tended to report similar needs for training across all training goals. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, workers' ratings of need for training may reflect an overall interest in training rather than need for training in a particular area. Caution should be exercised in interpretation when generic goals and self-assessment are used to measure need for training. Future assessments of training needs may be more effective if they use objective measures of specific local plans.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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