163 Bridging public health research and practice: a framework to develop professional learning opportunities for injury and violence prevention

Public health professionals increasingly must implement evidence-based strategies in challenging local environments. To effectively apply evidence-based policies and programs within their real-world practice, public health professionals frequently need additional training. We present a curriculum-design framework that guides the development and delivery of professional learning opportunities to more effectively bridge public health research and practice. The framework ensures an appropriate integration of concepts, applied-skills, tools and adult-learning methods. To demonstrate the framework’s potential, we describe four types of learning opportunities focused on injury and violence prevention. We explore the need for more consistent investment in training, technical assistance, and job-shaping to support the professional needs of a workforce that is quickly turning over and inadequately prepared for the rapidly changing circumstances of modern public health practice. Carolyn Crump introduces the topic by describing a curriculum-design framework that addresses training scope, conceptual integration, perspective diversity, pedagogical heuristics, and educational materials. Four training models help demonstrate the framework’s potential and application: i) Annual meetings; ii) Webinars/Workshop; iii) 6 month Academy; iv) Two-Stage Institute. The subsequent presentations provide details of each model. Jennifer Woody presents Model #1 (Annual Meeting) which has occurred among a network of southern states. With limited resources, the network scoped their learning opportunity as a thematic alignment of concepts rather than sequential integration, and emphasises a diversity of practitioner contribution. Formal presentations from both researchers and practitioners, and informal cultural/social networking events, provide opportunities to identify need and interest for more integrated learning opportunities. James Emery presents Model #2 (Webinars/Workshop). With more support and a national reach, the IPOP Training Academy identified a training scope of three webinars followed by a 3 day skills-building workshop. Webinar #1 presents a public health problem. Webinar #2 presents federal, state, and/or local strategies applied to the problem. Selected teams attend Webinar #3 to receive tools for gathering information they bring to the 3 day workshop. Tools can be applied to team projects and feedback provided from instructors and other participants. Nidhi Sachdeva presents Model #3 (6 month Academy). With limited funding and a state-based emphasis, the NC Injury Free Academy modified their training scope into a 6 month experience where teams are coached while also attending two, in-person, 2 day sessions. Diverse community coalitions are selected with a goal to purposefully increase local IVP practitioner skills. Each team is assigned a professional coach who facilitates their progress, reviews materials, and provides instructional support. Carolyn Crump presents Model #4 (Two-Stage Institute). With adequate support, the training scope is expanded to provide two stages of instruction: CORE conceptual learning for individuals (five 1 day workshops to learn a sequence of basic public health and IVP concepts and methods), followed by ENHANCED learning for teams of 4–6 people (seven-month project with 4 in-person training/coaching sessions). Steve Marshall provides a brief concluding summary and articulates the need for more consistent investment in training, technical assistance, and job-shaping to support the workforce’s evolving needs and capacity for IVP practice. The proposed format is a series of presentations of varying length with slides.