Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37793003›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of public health2024

Professionalization of the public health workforce: scoping review and call to action.

Katarzyna Czabanowska, Pablo Rodriguez Feria, Ellen Kuhlmann, Polychronis Kostoulas, John Middleton, Laura Magana, Gabriella Sutton, Julien Goodman, Genc Burazeri, Olga Aleksandrova and 1 more

Erratum issuedAbstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Creating codes of ethics for public health professionals and institutions.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Katarzyna CzabanowskaDepartment of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute CAPHRI, FHML, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-3934-5589
Pablo Rodriguez FeriaDepartment of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute CAPHRI, FHML, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-3817-1513
Ellen KuhlmannEuropean Public Health Association Section Health Workforce Research (EUPHA-HWR), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Polychronis KostoulasSchool of Public & One Health, University of Thessaly, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-7051-1541
John MiddletonJohn Middleton, ASPHER, Brussels, Belgium.
Laura MaganaASPPH, Washington, DC, USA.
Gabriella SuttonEuroHealthNet, Brussels, Belgium.
Julien GoodmanAPHEA, Brussels, Belgium.
Genc BurazeriUniversity of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
Olga AleksandrovaWHO Country Office, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Natalia PivenWHO Country Office, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe 'WHO-ASPHER Roadmap to Professionalizing the Public Health Workforce in the European Region' provides recommendations for strategic and systematic workforce planning around professionalization levers including: (i) competencies, (ii) training and education, (iii) formal organization, (iv) professional credentialing and (v) code of ethics and professional conduct as well as taxonomy and enumeration. It was based on a literature review till 2016. This scoping review aims to explore how the professionalization was documented in the literature between 2016 and 2022.

methodsFollowing the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, we searched Medline via PubMed, Web of Science, ERIC via EBSCO and Google Scholar and included studies on professionalization levers. Four critical appraisal tools were used to assess qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods studies and grey literature. The PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was used for reporting.

resultsEleven articles included in this review spanned 61 countries, targeting undergraduate, master's, doctoral degrees and continuing professional development. Most of these documents were reviews. About half provided a definition of the public health workforce; more than half covered the taxonomy and included information about competences, but the use of frameworks was sporadic and inconsistent. Formal organization and the necessity of a code of conduct for the public health workforce were acknowledged in only two studies.

conclusionsIn spite of some efforts to professionalize the public health workforce, this process is fragmented and not fully recognized and supported. There is an urgent need to engage policymakers and stakeholders to prioritize investments in strengthening the public health workforce worldwide.

Indexed as

Public HealthEuropeHealth WorkforceHumansProfessional Competence

Identifiers

PMID37793003
PMCPMC10843938

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.