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Small but Essential: Understanding Rural Public Health Workforce Challenges and Strengths From the 2024 Public Health
Casey P Balio1, Stephanie M Mathis, Michael B Meit
1Author Affiliations: Center for Rural Health and Research, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee (Drs Balio, Mathis, and Meit); Department of Health Services Management and Policy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee (Drs Balio and Mr Meit); Department of Community and Behavioral Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee (Dr Mathis); and Department of Child, Family, and Population Health, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Dr Bekemeier).
The rural public health workforce differs from urban counterparts in demographics and training. Understanding these differences is key to developing targeted strategies for rural public health.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Workforce Research
- Rural Health Disparities
- Health Services Administration
Background:
- Local health departments (LHDs) are crucial for community health.
- Understanding the characteristics of the public health workforce is essential for effective service delivery.
- Previous research indicates differences between rural- and urban-serving LHDs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the key characteristics of the rural local public health workforce nationally.
- To compare the rural workforce to the overall and urban local public health workforce.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional analysis of the 2024 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) data.
- Study sample included 172,679 weighted responses from individuals in LHDs, with 33,214 from rural-serving LHDs.
- Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to analyze demographic characteristics, education, position information, and retention intentions.
Main Results:
- The rural public health workforce had a higher proportion of females and White individuals compared to the urban workforce.
- A larger percentage of the rural workforce lacked a public health degree and had clinical training compared to urban counterparts.
- While rural workers reported longer tenure in public health practice, urban workers were more likely to intend to leave their positions within the next year.
Conclusions:
- Significant variations exist in the characteristics of the local public health workforce based on rurality.
- These findings underscore the need for rural-specific strategies to bolster and sustain the public health workforce.
- The study extends prior research on rural- and urban-serving LHDs, providing data to inform targeted interventions.
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