Search for specific blog posts by key words, authors, or FPHR capabilities:
Capability or Author
- Accountability & Performance Management
- Anne Graves
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- Jenna Olson
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- Spoorthy Uddurhally
- Stephany Medina
Grandma’s Blue House: A change management case study
Growing up, I was the kid that hated change. My grandma had a very blue living room--walls, couch, shag carpet, even the picture frames were all blue. One year she decided to yank it all out and upgrade to a more nuanced look. Six-year-old Steph was not having this sudden and unexpected change. As an adult, I’m better with change, but there are some key aspects to change management that make it easier for me. Let’s see what the research has to say.
Building Strong Foundations: Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) in Action
Have you ever been asked to prevent a complex health issue and weren’t sure where to start? This can be common in public health. The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) offers a structured, community-centered approach to addressing substance misuse, and other health issues, effectively.
From Data to Wisdom: Applying Quantitative and Qualitative Data
In public health, we are continuously looking over or collecting data to better understand the needs of our community. But does having data mean we understand a community?
Building Trust Before the Storm: Reflections on Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Training (CERC)
Building trust and credibility over time—through things like regular engagement with local media, growing our social media presence, and forging partnerships across sectors—lays the groundwork to communicate well, and do it quickly, when it matters most.
An Antidote to Isolation and Loneliness
United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently named loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection a public health crisis. These feelings are not just personal struggles—they have a profound impact on our collective wellbeing.
At the heart of this crisis is a need for connection. We as people want to feel that our lives matter and that we are seen, heard, and valued. While we may never fully grasp the ripple effects our lives have on others, our ability to communicate can be a powerful antidote to isolation. Here’s how.
Crushing It! Using Performance Data to Make Better Decisions
How many of us have created a workplan with goals, objectives, action items, and were proud of the work we outlined in there and thought, “I’ll get to defining the performance measures later,” but “later” never came?
Or maybe we’ve found ourselves on the flip side. We took the time to count and measure everything we could think of and realized later that it was a lot of administrative burden to track all this data that didn’t help us improve our program?
I ask because I’ve put myself in both of those situations. So, let’s talk about how to create a great performance management system!
Exploring Creative Ways to Collect Data: Dot Voting
Are you a public health professional tired of using the same method over and over again to collect data? You may be one of the many who are constantly requesting others to fill a quick survey, give an interview, or participate in a focus group. While these are effective data collection methods, everything is better in moderation. In this post, we are not discouraging those platforms or methods but simply exploring other creative data collection methods such as the dot voting method.
Making Equity a Daily Practice
Health equity is more than just a buzzword in public health—it's a practice that requires attention to detail in everyday actions. While large-scale initiatives are vital, public health professionals can create meaningful change through small, intentional actions in our daily work. Ask yourself: Does the data we collect truly represent the communities we serve? Are there simple adjustments we can make to ensure our data is more complete, and actionable, helping us uncover and address gaps in access to services?
Talking Data, Equity, or Partnerships? Start with Values.
Do you have data you want to tell people about? Are health equity topics heavy on your mind, and you want others to understand? Are you working to develop a partnership? Here’s one thing you can do to help your words land in the way you intend.
Know what values the people you’re trying to reach have in common with you, as a public health professional. Name those values. Say them loud, proud, and first. When you take a moment to connect in this way, others may be more ready to hear your data, talk about equity, and take action together.
Shifting Mindsets: Health Individualism and Systemic Understanding
Health individualism can lead to blame and stigma, because it makes it easy to assume that disparities are the result of groups of people making the same bad choices.
Take a guess. Since 2020, has the prevalence of health individualism increased, deceased, or stayed the same across the American public?
Read on for the answer, and to find out what steps you can take to advance a systemic understanding of health.
Can Government Employees Engage in Policy Work?
As public health professionals, we know that policies impact health. From seatbelt laws to minimum age requirements for alcohol, we’ve seen how laws and policies can positively impact health. We’ve also seen how laws and policies can negatively impact health – from segregation to voting restrictions and more. Law is a key determinant of health and an essential tool, when used with equity in mind, to advance health and reduce health disparities.
Bridging the Gap: How We Can Better Communicate Across Sectors
Public health is all about creating healthier communities, but sometimes, we do not get the message we intend to in the right way. This is especially true when we are partnering with educators, health systems, business leaders, or housing developers. We want all our partners on board with us and on the same page to create healthier communities. So, how can we bridge the communication gap?
Quick Tips for Impactful Presentations
Whether you’re presenting to your colleagues, a group of students or community members, or at a conference, things like how your information is organized, your pace, and whether you ask questions can all make a big difference in what they’ll take away. Check out these two principles and five elements that can turn your audience from glazed to engaged!
Is this good data?
When we harness data in these ways, we gain a deeper understanding of community need. But in a world with an overabundance of data and information, how do we know what we can trust? We have to consider the data source, the timeliness of the data, if the methods are transparent, and if the data is saying what we think it’s saying. There’s a lot to understanding if something is “good” data, and even “good” data can be misinterpreted.
Wait! That’s not true?!?
In today's digital age, we're inundated with information—some credible, some not. According to the de Beaumont Foundation, hundreds of millions of people interact with trillions of pieces of content every MINUTE! For public health professionals, this deluge can be both a challenge and an opportunity. Both misinformation and disinformation pose serious challenges to public health.
A Guide for Public Health Storytelling
Use this framework to tell a story about the impact and potential of your work. It can help recruit champions—from colleagues and partners to community leaders and policy makers—who could help remove barriers and solve problems that get in the way. There is a 1-minute message included in the toolkit that you can use verbatim, but it’s most useful as a guide for creating your own 1-minute messages about work that matters in your community.
Why aren’t my project planning conversations landing?
Looking back on my project, we struggled to find clarity and direction forward in our discussions because we were thinking at different levels of perspective, and that influenced the way we engaged in this discussion.
If I were to do this project again, I would set the stage with this 5-minute video from Chris McGoff at The Primes, who I think explains it best.
Gobbledygook Has Got To Go!*
Plain language is when you use writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.
In Public Health, there is evidence that there are better outcomes when our intended audience understands what we are saying/asking/telling.
Imagine this.
It’s your neighbor’s annual barbeque. You show up with a dish of your grandmother’s ambrosia salad, squeeze it onto the table between the brat buns and sweet corn salsa, and load up your plate. There are some new faces at the picnic table—this must be the family that just moved in across the street. You sit down, make introductions, and then comes the question: “What do you do for work?”
What the heck is this FPHR thing all about?
This framework introduces the key areas of work and foundational skills, or capabilities, public health departments need to prevent, promote, and protect the public’s health. Organizing our work under this framework can help us to assure that no matter where someone lives, they have the same public health protections and the same opportunity to achieve their best health.