The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) aims to assist the field to improve and measure the impact of public health training through forming the Training Impact Task Force. This short literature search was conducted and presented to the Council on Linkages at its March 2011 meeting as background on the issue. When searching, the following keywords were used: training, learning, continuing education, instructional design, impact, knowledge transfer, evaluation, public health workforce, and Kirkpatrick; and the following databases were reviewed: the American Evaluation Association database, PubMed, Google Scholar, Annual Reviews, Education Resources Information Center, American Society for Training & Development, and the Association of Schools of Public Health. This resource contains referenced abstracts as well as the common factors or themes found in the literature.
Based on feedback received at the Council on Linkages meeting, this literature summary is being updated to serve as baseline information for the Task Force. These references will continue to be updated as the Task Force meets and begins its work to develop checklists, tools, and tips on how to improve and measure the impact of training. Suggestions for additions to the literature summary are welcome and may be recorded in the Comments section below or submitted to Kathleen Amos at
[email protected].