Surveying the State and Local Government Public Health Workforce: The Design and Evolution of PH WINS 2024

The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) was fielded in 2014, 2017, and 2021. In the last 10 years, it has provided participating health departments and the field with data to improve recruitment and retention, strengthen workforce development efforts, guide strategic planning, and raise critical funds to improve public health infrastructure. It captures individual perspectives on engagement and satisfaction, intention to leave, training needs, and workplace infrastructure. This article describes the methods used for the 2024 administration of PH WINS.

PH WINS 2024 was fielded to a nationally representative sample of staff in State Health Agency Central Offices (SHA-CO) and local health departments (LHDs) from September 9, 2024, to January 17, 2025. The instrument was revised to improve the actionability of the results, reduce respondents' cognitive burden, and align with existing standards or survey questions. PH WINS 2024 had 12 sampling frames, compared with the 3 in previous years: SHAs, members of the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC), and LHDs in each of the 10 Health and Human Services (HHS) Regions. All participating agencies were surveyed using a census approach.

Overall, staff lists for 48 SHAs, 1,178 LHDs were collected, and the survey was sent to 159 627 individuals. PH WINS received a total of 56 595 responses, a 37% of eligible respondents. The SHA frame received responses from 29% of eligible respondents, BCHC members received 33%, and all other LHDs received 51%. The nationally representative SHA-CO frame included a total of 18 110 individuals, and the nationally representative LHD frame included 38 485 individuals from all 1178 LHDs. For the first time, the national sample of LHDs included small LHDs.

With the 2024 administration of PH WINS, all state and local public health departments in the United States had the opportunity to participate, yielding a nationally representative sample of small LHDs for the first time. State and local health department leaders should be empowered to use the results for workforce development and other planning. Questions were modified to become more action-oriented, rigorous, and stable over time to maximize the utility of PH WINS for years to come. Given the changing public health landscape associated with new outbreaks, disasters, and the political environment, these changes are critical.