Suchergebnisse

IntroductionThe structure and capacity of the health workforce to address changing patterns of disease and emerging global health risks has become a significant policy issue within Australia and internationally. It has been argued within this environment it is now critical to rethink the way public health professionals are educated and developed, including the fostering of senior roles within the workforce to not only use, but generate, service-based research. Despite this, the potential role of professional doctorates to strengthen public health leadership to connect policy, practice and research has had scant attention in Australia.This paper reports on a longitudinal research study tracing the profile and experiences of doctoral candidates in one work-based professional doctorate offered through an Australian university. Begun in 2009 as an innovative collaboration between a government health system and the university, the Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) was designed to foster a cadre of senior public health leaders who could generate applied research to provide evidence-informed population health practices for the state. In 2013 the DrPH was opened to attract emerging health leaders more broadly, shifting the program to partnerships with a diversity of health services. It is within this evolving landscape of the program that the perspectives and formation of the doctoral candidates as public health leaders is considered.AimsThis research aims to illuminate the subjective experiences and outcomes of participating in a professional doctorate within the broader context of the field of public health within Australia. In particular it seeks to trace the ways in which the doctorate configures professional formation and capacities for taking up leadership roles within the workforce and the implications for health system strengthening and practice.MethodsThis study is being conducted as a longitudinal study tracing the learning and career trajectories of forty-five practitioners who have completed or are currently participating in the DrPH program. The research commenced in 2009 and to date has been conducted through an iterative series of in-depth interviews, focus groups and desktop methods on the practitioners' subjective experiences, career trajectories and outcomes. Systematic cross case analysis that draws on qualitative longitudinal research methods and life course approaches have been used to distil patterns of continuity and change from the individual to the collective on trajectories and outcomes to date.Findings and ConclusionIt has been found that a golden thread weaves across the findings of the individual and collective learning and career trajectories attesting to the central role of embedded workplace research in this professional doctorate for becoming, and being seen to be, a public health practitioner-researcher and leader. Giving voice to and tracing the trajectories of forty-five professional doctoral students and alumni in a study spanning a decade has proven a demanding yet highly valuable endeavor. The methodological decision to undertake longitudinal iterative research has afforded rich insights on the role of the professional doctorate in shaping the emergence and outcomes for taking up leadership roles within the public health workforce.