How to promote experiential knowledge in public health: a new training for French practitioners

Background In France, Health Promotion (HP) practitioners lack tools to document and share how their interventions work. To bridge this gap, a national committee of HP practitioners, policymakers and researchers designed a new method to Capitalize, i.e. collect, analyse and share through summaries, Experiential Knowledge (EK) in HP (CEKHP). A training program was created in 2020 to disseminate CEKHP process and tools. Objectives After undertaking CEKHP training, participants shall be able to design and promote their own CEKHP projects. Each training session (30 hours in total) alternates short theoretical courses, workshops and the completion of a capitalization in real professional situation. Expert members of the committee designed the training following a skills-based approach. They sequentially identified: targeted occupations, competencies, how to assess them, then designed the curriculum. Two core competencies are built up: 1/ valuing EKHP, through advocacy and project design;2/ guiding with CEKHP the collection of EK on HP interventions and its circulation. The training covers 11 competencies of the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework. In 2021, 2 sessions were organised to test its relevance in an adult learning situation (group of 12 professionals) and in a master's degree program (group of 9 students). Results The learning-by-doing method was fruitful: all participants, in both settings, completed their capitalization. A few trainees chose to document interventions or organisational adaptations linked with the Covid-19 crisis, for which EK is especially valuable. They also reported added benefits: self-reinforcement, rare in-depth exchanges with fellow HP practitioners, etc. Conclusions A training strategy combining adult learning and student teaching can be effective to disseminate CEKHP. All trainees are now invited to join a community of practice, which will provide them with additional tools and network resources, through a national EKHP resource center. Key messages A training program focused on building up experiential knowledge capacities is a lever for disseminating experiential knowledge in France, among both current and future health promotion practitioners. The real-life case study, i.e. the completion under supervision of the capitalization of a health promotion intervention, is an essential component of the new experiential knowledge training program.