Understanding health policy leaders' training needs.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed the training needs of health policy leaders and practitioners across career stages; identified areas of core content for health policy training programs; and, identified training modalities for health policy leaders.


METHODS
We convened a focus group of health policy leaders at varying career stages to inform the development of the Health Policy Leaders' Training Needs Assessment tool. We piloted and distributed the tool electronically. We used descriptive statistics and thematic coding for analysis.


RESULTS
Seventy participants varying in age and stage of career completed the tool. "Cost implications of health policies" ranked highest for personal knowledge development and "intersection of policy and politics" ranked highest for health policy leaders in general. "Effective communication skills" ranked as the highest skill element and "integrity" as the highest attribute element. Format for training varied based on age and career stage.


CONCLUSIONS
This study highlighted the training needs of health policy leaders personally as well as their perceptions of the needs for training health policy leaders in general. The findings are applicable for current health policy leadership training programs as well as those in development.
Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.|Departments of Community Health and Preventive Medicine/Medical Education, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Carey Roth
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1691-2712
CR
Bayer
Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
L Lerissa
LL
Smith
Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Renée
R
Volny Darko
Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Marissa
M
McKool
Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Fengxia
F
Yan
Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.|Department of Family Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Harry
H
Heiman
D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000193:education*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D014481:United States