Schools of public health in Europe: Common mission-different progress

Abstract

Background: European Essential Public Health Operations (EPHOs) supposedly drive improvements in public health outcomes, including Schools and Departments of Public Health (SPHs). Overall, SPHs did not progress significantly in delivering outcomes related to the EPHOs between 2011 (Survey I) and 2015/16 (Survey II). This analysis attempts to identify the positive or negative development of individual SPHs. Methods: The analysis has utilized data obtained from SPHs through questionnaire-based surveys, which contained information about learning outcomes of Master of Public Health (MPH) programs necessary for the implementation of EPHOs. To differentiate the progress of SPHs, we applied cluster analyses for a group of 36 SPHs with complete data sets for both surveys. Results: The statistical analysis identified three clusters for Survey I and Survey II, defined by their medians and position vectors. A comparison shows that between the two surveys, all clusters overlap and thus are not significantly different. Of the individual SPHs, 16 of 36 (44.4%) improved between 2011 and 2015/16 according to the increased magnitude of their position vector, whereas 9 SPHs (25.0%) show significant progress at P<0.05. From the 20 SPHs (55.6%) that decreased their performance, 11 (30.6%) showed a significant reduction in the outcome of Master of Public Health programs at P<0.05. This outcome implies that N=20 or 55.6% of the participating SPHs evidenced substantial changes. Analysis of 11 available nominal variables did not significantly explain the cluster positions in Survey I and II. Conclusions: Overall, there is no significant progress in the performance of SPHs between 2011 and 2015/16. However, detailed cluster analysis can demonstrate considerable progress for one-fifth of participating SPHs, whereas more than half lag. © Journal of Public Health and Emergency. All rights reserved.