The 2022 CEPH – MPH Foundational Competencies
The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) has accredited OHSU-PSU School of Public Health since its foundation. CEPH’s mission is to assure quality public health education and training and excellence in practice, research, and service through collaboration with organizational and community partners. The School of Public Health must document its achievement of rigorous standards in order to maintain CEPH accreditation. As a requirement of CEPH accreditation, MPH students are expected to demonstrate mastery on the following 22 foundational competencies. These competencies have been developed to ensure students at CEPH-accreditation schools and programs are successful in the public health field.
Evidence-based Approaches To Public Health
#1. Apply epidemiological methods to settings and situations in public health practice.
#2. Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
#3. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming, and software, as appropriate.
#4. Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy, or practice.
Public Health & Health Care Systems
#5. Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
#6. Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities, and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community, and systemic levels.
Planning & Management to Promote Health
#7. Assess population needs, assets, and capacities that affect communities’ health.
#8. Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design, implementation, or critique of public health policies or programs.
#9. Design a population-based policy, program, project, or intervention.
#10. Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
#11. Select methods to evaluate public health programs.
Policy in Public Health
#12. Discuss the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
#13. Propose strategies to identify relevant communities and individuals and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
#14. Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
#15. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity Leadership.
Leadership
#16. Apply leadership and/or management principles to address a relevant issue.
#17. Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
Communication
#18. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
#19. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation to a non-academic, non-peer audience with attention to factors such as literacy and health literacy.
#20. Describe the importance of cultural humility in communicating public health content.
Interprofessional and/or Intersectoral Practice
#21. Integrate perspectives from other sectors and/or professions to promote and advance population health.
Systems Thinking
#22. Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than standard narrative.