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 efficie...
['Mamie Jennings Mabery', 'Lynn Gibbs‐Scharf', 'Debra Bara']
Communities of practice foster collaboration across public health