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Article
Publication date: 29 March 2013

Mamie Jennings Mabery, Lynn Gibbs‐Scharf and Debra Bara

The complexity and responsibilities of public health make collaboration across multiple levels of government critical. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC

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Abstract

Purpose

The complexity and responsibilities of public health make collaboration across multiple levels of government critical. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) effectively uses communities of practice (CoPs) to bring its staff together with partners to share, learn, and address public health problems. This paper aims to focus on CoPs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper assesses the value of CoPs to individual members, their organizations, and their public health domains; assesses whether the CoP Program has improved CDC's relationship with participants in various CoPs; and identifies barriers to participation or success factors that could be applied to the development of new CoPs. Responses from a random sample of active CoP members were analyzed using qualitative data analysis software to identify themes and answer research questions.

Findings

The results reveal clear benefits to individual members, their organizations, and public health disciplines including daily work efficiencies, expanded infrastructure, and enhanced relationships between CDC and its public health partners.

Research limitations/implications

This qualitative research analyzed a small number of communities of practice spanning their launch through year 2; further study of a larger sample of public health CoPs, including sustainability factors, would build on this case study's implications.

Practical implications

Public health practitioners seeking a collaborative approach to problem solving will find in this study some useful lessons learned from CDC; readers will be introduced to CDC's CoP Resource Kit and a public health collaboration portal, phConnect.

Originality/value

Well‐facilitated, member‐driven, and highly participative CoPs are valuable tools for fostering collaboration essential to improving the public health system, and should be used more broadly across public health.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1988

Is reading really necessary? Apparently not, at least for a part of the public which is illiterate, or for those who depend primarily on visual and oral messages to get through…

Abstract

Is reading really necessary? Apparently not, at least for a part of the public which is illiterate, or for those who depend primarily on visual and oral messages to get through the day. Blaring stereo, blood and gore movies, radio and television news between advertisements, and tombstones with recordings make the point that books are obsolete.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Abstract

Details

Women in Leadership 2nd Edition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-064-8

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