Supplemental Digital Content 1:

(1)

Supplemental Digital Content 1: Public Health Skills/Competencies Listed by MPH Graduates as Most Needed for their First post-MPH Position at the Health Department^a (Column 2) and for which MPH Preparation was Inadequate^b (Column 3)*

Skills/Competencies identified by MPH graduates

Necessary for first post-MPH position at Health Department (N=219)

n (%)

Were not prepared for (N=199)

n (%)

Quantitative data analysis/statistics 116 (53) 25 (13)

Epidemiology 59 (27) 5 (3)

Evaluation 47 (21) -

Facility in using SAS^® statistical software 35 (16) 33 (17) Project/Program planning/Project

management

34 (16) 8 (4)

Writing/Reporting/Publishing 34 (16) 11 (6)

Communicating with the public/Risk communication

32 (15) 12 (6)

Researching issues/Literature review 29 (13) -

Data collection/Database management/Data cleaning

28 (13) 20 (10)

Presentations 22 (10) -

Policy/Program management or implementation/Strategic analysis

20 (9) 12 (6)

Health education/Health education needs assessment

18 (8) -

Survey design 16 (7) -

Health policy and management 12 (5) -

Educating/Training others 11 (5) -

SPSS^® 9 (4) -

Outbreak/Disease investigations 9 (4) 9 (5)

(2)

Skills/Competencies identified by MPH graduates

Necessary for first post-MPH position at Health Department (N=219)

n (%)

Were not prepared for (N=199)

n (%)

Financial planning/Budgeting 8 (4) 18 (9)

Interviewing patients 8 (4) -

Supervising 8 (4) -

Grant writing and management 7 (3) 11 (6)

GIS^® 7 (3) -

Curriculum development 7 (3) -

Questionnaire development 6 (3) -

Community outreach/Coalition building 6 (3) 9 (5)

Leadership/Personnel management 6 (3) 19 (10)

Navigating/Dealing with bureaucracy/politics - 14 (7)

Structured Query Language (SQL) - 9 (5)

Administration - 8 (4)

Monitoring and evaluation - 7 (4)

SPSS^® - 6 (3)

a Respondents to the survey of staff with MPH as their highest degree were asked, “Please list the skills/competencies that were important for the first DOHMH position you held after you completed your MPH.”

b Respondents to the survey of staff with MPH as their highest degree were asked, “Please list the skills/competencies that were important for the first DOHMH position you held after completing your MPH that your MPH program DID NOT prepare you for.”

*Bolded items are the top 10 themes identified