PHABC - Core Competencies in Public Health Project
Survey Results for Vancouver Coastal Health Pilot on
COMMUNITY CAPACITY- BUILDING Skills
Final June 3, 2010
Prepared by Zena Simces and Sue Ross
A.EMPLOYEE SURVEY FOR COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING
These results are based on 48 respondents
75 % front line staff; 4% managers; 10% practice support/leader educator; 4% program consultants; 2 % coordinators; 4% others
Length of time working:
37.5% less than 5 years; 25% 5-10 years; 37.5% more than 10 years
Type of work:
Public Health Nursing: Infant Child and Youth (including maternal and child health, school aged children)Clinical Audiology / Nutrition/Dietitians
Community and Family Health
Community Developers
Social Planner
Competency Assessment:
Three main questions addressed – In this core competency area:
- Is there a need for Professional Development?
- What is the self assessed skill level of employees?
- How necessary is the skill for employees in their current positions?
Competency Statements:
Able to apply at least two of the following: group facilitation, consultation techniques, community engagement processes
88% indicated need for professional development
50% indicated it is astrength of theirs (level: to mentor, very comfortable to apply)
100% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to establish effective working relationships with diverse individuals, organizations and groups
81% indicated need for professional development
66% indicated it is a strength of theirs
100% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to engage communities to advocate for healthy public policies and services to promote the health of the community
81% indicated need for professional development
36% indicated it is a strength of theirs
83% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Understand the concepts of community capacity-building and able to apply these to practice
79 % indicated need for professional development
48% indicated it is a strength of theirs
92%% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to apply a population health and social determinants of health approach to improve the health and well being of communities
77 % indicated need for professional development
52% indicated it is a strength of theirs
94% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to understand and apply at least one of the following: participatory action research; community asset mapping; participatory evaluation
77 % indicated need for professional development
21% indicated it is a strength of theirs
71% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to influence others, foster leadership and mobilize a community to action
75 % indicated need for professional development
46% indicated it is a strength of theirs
91% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to interpret, translate and transfer knowledge to enhance its usefulness to communities
75 % indicated need for professional development
50% indicated it is a strength of theirs
93% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to assist in issues management, problem-solving and conflict resolution within a community context
75 % indicated need for professional development
21% indicated it is a strength of theirs
86% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to take into account diverse values and cultures when working with communities
75 % indicated need for professional development
69% indicated it is a strength of theirs
98% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to foster innovation and support new approaches
75 % indicated need for professional development
44% indicated it is a strength of theirs
94% indicated that this skills is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to broker and leverage opportunities to help communities sustain their efforts
71 % indicated need for professional development
20% indicated it is a strength of theirs
65% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position
Able to develop two or more of the following: strategic plans, grant proposals, project proposals, briefs, option papers, requests for proposals.
58 % indicated need for professional development
67% indicated it is a strength of theirs
25% indicated that this skill is very necessary or necessary for their current position.
Overall employee ranking of the top five prioritiesfor professional development
Respondent Instruction:
“With regard to the 13 competency statements (skill areas) identified above, which are your highest priority from a professional development perspective? Rank up to 5 skills with 1 being the highest priority and 5 being the lowest priority.”Overall employee priority selections from 1 to 5 are noted in bold below.
Skill Set / # of employees / Percent
Able to establish effective working relationships with diverse individuals, organizations and groups 1 / 14 / 29.17%
Understand the concepts of community capacity-building and able to apply these to practice 2 / 10 / 20.83 %
Able to influence others, foster leadership and mobilize a community to action. 3 / 5 / 10.42 %
Able to apply at least two of the following: group facilitation, consultation techniques community engagement processes. 4 / 4 / 8.33 %
Able to engage communities to advocate for healthy public policies and services to promote the health of the community. 4 / 4 / 8.33 %
Able to apply a population health and social determinants of health approach to improve the health and well being of communities. 5 / 3 / 6.25 %
Able to take into account diverse values and cultures when working with communities. 5 / 3 / 6.25 %
Able to develop two or more of the following: strategic plans, grant proposals, project proposals, briefs, option papers, requests for proposals / 2 / 4.17 %
Able to understand and apply at least one of the following: participatory action research community asset mapping participatory evaluation. / 1 / 2.08 %
Able to broker and leverage opportunities to help communities sustain their efforts. / 1 / 2.08 %
Able to foster innovation and support new approaches. / 1 / 2.08 %
Able to interpret, translate and transfer knowledge to enhance its usefulness to communities. / 0 / 0.00 %
Able to assist in issues management, problem solving and conflict resolution within a community context / 0 / 0.00 %
Frequency of Use:
40% indicated that they regularly use community capacity-building to deliver public health programs. An additional 35% indicated they used community capacity-building fairly often or sometimes and overall.
63%feel they should have the opportunity to use their community capacity-building skills more often in their work. Typical comments from this group include:
- “I would be interested in having the opportunity to use more community capacity-building skills, however more immediate care needs (i.e., one-on one client care/support) take precedence.”
- “System values direct patient care not community engagement.”
- “Time spent immunizing in schools takes away from time available and necessary to build capacity in communities.”
- “Time constraints, lack of managerial support.”
- “Competing organizational priorities.”
- “Other program priorities and lack of direction.”
- “Inadequate training and support from leaders.”
- “Lack of knowledge of how to proceed.”
Organizational Supports:
52% indicated that in their opinion their organization values community capacity-building and 50% indicated that their organization supports community capacity-building efforts. The type of support mentioned most frequently by employees are financial, technology and administrative.
Type of organizational support available
Technology / 14 / 29.17 %Financial / 10 / 20.83 %
Administrative / 5 / 10.42 %
Supportive organizational policies, procedures, framework, etc. / 4 / 8.33 %
Supportive organizational culture (e.g., norms, values, etc.) / 4 / 8.33 %
Physical Space / 3 / 6.25 %
Mentoring opportunities / 3 / 6.25 %
Training and education opportunities / 2 / 4.17 %
Access to other experts in this competency area / 1 / 2.08 %
Others: Specify / 1 / 2.08 %
Included in performance review plans, if applicable / 1 / 2.08 %
Supportive management and leadership / 0 / 0.00 %
Existing positive relationships and partnerships with relevant groups / 0 / 0.00 %
Type of Professional Development Supports provided or ‘should provide’:
Provided
71% (34) indicated that they are given time off during work hours to take training
63% (30) indicated they are offered workshops on site free of charge
54% (26) indicated they are supported to participate in communities of practice
44 % (21) indicated courses are recognized in their performance plans
42% (20) indicated that a portion of their tuition is paid.
Should Provide
32% indicated that the organization should pay 100% of tuition upon course completion
29% indicated that achievement should be recognized in some tangible way
25% indicated that the organization should offer workshops free of charge
23% indicated they should be given time off during work hours to take training
21% indicated they should be supported to participate in communities of practice.
Formal Training in Community Capacity-building:
92% indicated that professional development in community capacity-building is important to their future career goals.
29% indicated they have attended continuing education in this competency area.
25% indicated that community capacity-building training was included as part of their formal training.
Training Delivery Options:
Respondents preferred a combination of classroom, online and workplace learning (48%; 23); a one or two day workday session in terms of length of time (58%; 28); and an in-service workshop format (54%; 26) over other options provided.
Comments from Employees about Community Capacity-building:
“The organization values community capacity-building but there is little time to do it. It would be great if practitioners are given the time and opportunity to do community capacity-building and community development.
“Often support for community capacity-building is quite token. The role of other disciplines in capacity building has been reduced and it is primarily the job of the Community Developers in the organization.”
“There is support in rhetoric and we have several full time positions dedicated to community capacity-building, but there is no commitment to ongoing professional development in this field. Staff are supported for educational leave but not the cost of the training session.
“While the area I work in is very supportive of the community capacity-building work, I find the organization as a whole offers very little support.”
B.EMPLOYER SURVEY FOR COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING
These results are based on 7 respondents
43% (3) have 5-10 years experience and 57% (4) have more than 10 years experience
Areas of work:
Community and Family Health
Prevention
Population Health
Core Public Health Programs
Importance of Community Capacity-building:
All of the employer respondents ranked community capacity-building as 1or 2 on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being highest).
Competency Statements -Comparative Ranking of Professional Development Needs by Employers and Employees:
Both employer and employee surveys asked respondents to rank their top five priorities for employee professional development from among the 13 competency statements (skill areas).
The competency skills areas ranked first or second in terms of need for professional development by employers and employees were the same:
- Understand the concepts of community capacity-building and able to apply these to practice
- Able to establish effective working relationships with diverse individuals, organizations and groups
The following skill statement was ranked third by employers and fifth by employees:
- Able to apply a population health and social determinants of health approach to improve the health and well being of communities
The following skill statement was ranked fourth by employees and fifth by employers:
- Able to engage communities to advocate for healthy public policies and services to promote the health of the community.
Importance of Community Capacity-building:
In response to what is hoped to be achieved by ensuring staff have communitycapacity–building competencies, employers indicated the following:
“Staff are able to use their skills in community capacity building to enable supports for children (our clients) in the community, facilitating prevention of further difficulties and remediation of current difficulties - in the long term, less direct intervention time needs to be provided by staff.”“Increased ability to work on health issues from a population focus; increased focus on the determinants of health and inequities; increased balance of individual and community capacity building within practice frameworks, quality initiatives, outcome indicators.”
“Ability to work well within populations that require additional assistance to meet their health needs.”
“Maximize our effectiveness and 'spread'.”
“To build the skills and capacity of communities to work in partnership with health staff to promote health.”
“Community capacity-building must be a competency that informs the work and plans of all public health staff and programs.”
Organizational Supports:
Overall support
Three of seven employer respondents indicated there is support for community capacity-building from the corporate leadership of the organization; three of seven indicated there isn’t; one was unsure.
Five of seven employer respondents indicated that there are organizations supports available to staff to assist them in their community capacity-building efforts and two of seven did not know.
Type of support available:
There appears to be some agreement between employers and employee respondents regarding the availability of financial supports (employers 16%; employees 21%). Beyond this, a diverse range of supports were selected by both employers and employees.
Financial / 5 / 15.63 %Existing positive relationships and partnerships with relevant groups / 5 / 15.63 %
Supportive management and leadership / 5 / 15.63 %
Physical space / 4 / 12.50 %
Supportive organizational policies, procedures, framework, etc. / 3 / 9.38 %
Supportive organizational culture / 3 / 9.38 %
Technology / 2 / 6.25 %
Administrative / 2 / 6.25 %
Mentoring opportunities / 1 / 3.13 %
Access to other experts in this competency area / 1 / 3.13 %
Training and education opportunities / 1 / 3.13 %
Included in performance review plans, if applicable / 0 / 0.00 %
Others: / 0 / 0.00 %
Type of Professional Development Supports provided or ‘should provide’:
Provided
- All employer respondents indicated that the organization gives time off during work hours to take training (70% of employees indicated this)
- All employer respondents indicated the organization supports development and participation in communities of practice (54% of employees indicated this)
- Six of seven employers indicated courses are recognized in performance plans (43% of employees indicated this)
- Five of seven employers indicated the organization offers workshops on site free of charge (63% of employees indicated this)
- Four of seven employer respondents indicated that a portion of tuition is paid by the organization (42% of employees indicated this).
Should Provide
- Three of seven employer respondents indicated that the organization should recognize achievement in some tangible way (29% of employees indicated this)
- Two of seven employer respondents indicated that the organization should pay 100% of tuition upon course completion (32% of employees indicated this).
Professional Development in Community-Capacity-building:
Five of seven employer respondents indicated that some or most staff (approximately 38 staff) may require additional professional development in community capacity-building.
Participation in Professional Development:
- Four of seven employer respondents indicated that the organization would be willing to teach some aspects of the program/course.
- Three of seven employer respondents indicated that the organization would be willing to provide mentoring support.
- Two of seven employer respondents indicated the organization would be willing to provide field placement or expertise to develop a professional development program.
Comments from Employers about Community Capacity-building:
“Locally community capacity-building is seen as important public health work, but not with high level management. Management would need to view it as an investment in long term economic benefits for a sustainable health system.”
“Support for community capacity-building activities is influenced by political ideology locally, provincially and federally, noted through budget cuts and focus on individual responsibility for health.”
“Community work is being threatened due to fiscal constraints and lack of understanding and commitment to the preventive value of the work.
1